The first time I heard this we were driving down Toorak road about to turn into St. Kilda Road. One of those songs you remember the first time you hear cos it knocks you off your feet. (luckily I was sitting down) At first I thought it was Paul Weller playing solo. But I soon caught on that this was something different. We got tickets to see him at the National Theatre in St. Kilda and he was simply great. One man, one electric guitar. A no smoking venue my mate Jimmy lit up a cigarette and nearly got us thrown out.
For his second tour I missed out on tickets so I drove up to Sydney where my girlfriend and I were promised names on the door from a radio acquaintance. Full House and no names but I managed to blag our way in. This time he was twice as good.
For a while in the 90's and early 2000's I tried to emulate Billy. Doing solo gigs with just me and a Telecaster. Putting on more of an English accent than was ever thought possible. The b-side of Little Murders single Andy Warhol is 4 solo tracks in a Billy Bragg style.
Unfortunately I've seen him a few too many times now and I much prefer him with just a guitar and not the band thing. I did meet him once. At Inflation nightclub after one of his early gigs in Melbourne. What did I say to him? "Excuse me!". He was in the doorway. I had to get past. I couldn't come up with a witty line.
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