Watching Billy Bragg is a strange experience. In essence, he’s just one man with nothing more than a guitar and a couple of amps. Put like that, he sounds sort of boring but – in reality – nothing could be further from the truth.
Armed with roughly 30 years of material and the touring experience to match, watching this solo performance was nothing short of amazing. Tearing on stage, fists raised to the air, Bragg ripped through a number of past favourites before taking the time out to send a hello the crowd’s way. From here on in the man could have pretty much done anything.
The sold-out Prince Bandroom crowd was all obviously massive Billy Bragg fans and determined to enjoy every minute of the show. That said, what he actually did do was pretty good. Dabbling in some new material, punters were treated to a taste of the upcoming album. Staying on the political slant, quite a few of the new tunes were somewhat stripped back. That was until Billy ripped into current seven inch single ‘Old Clash Fan Fight Song’. Even without the story, Bragg offered up explaining his love for The Clash and it was obvious Billy had ripped this one right off Strummer and his lads.
Sipping on a fine English tea, Bragg looked relaxed and at home, and with the crowd’s full attention (excluding a few annoying, chatty punters) he began to spin a yarn or two. Hammering home a few political ideals, songs were broken up with stories addressing racism, love and activism. Culminating in a tale about Woody Guthrie, Billy played a couple of choice cuts from Mermaid Avenue, including the fabulous ‘Ingrid Bergman’.
It wasn’t until he pulled the old Sydney versus Melbourne card that the punters really got rowdy. With local pride running high and a generally ecstatic mood everywhere, the show was set up perfectly for closers ‘There Is Power In The Union’ and ‘Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards’. Banging out these anthems with nothing more than a guitar and his voice, while the masses sung along to every word, the power of Billy Bragg was clear. By sticking to his guns and writing great song after song, Bragg has become a living legend. No need for gimmicks, no need for trends, Billy Bragg is a true musician and tonight – it showed.
Even after two or more hours, the crowd wanted more. And they got it with dual encores. Comprising about nine songs between them, both reappearances were an absolute treat. Running through a slab of old material, the show hit it’s high point in Bragg’s very last number, ‘New England’. While it was hard to tell who was doing more singing, the crowd or performer, ‘New England’ brought the house down and finished two and a bit hours of Billy Bragg at his best.
