Monday 8 December 2008

Martin Carr - Old Blue Last

This is the first time I've seen Martin Carr since November 1996 at Manchester Uni with Julia Roe. I missed out on the Bravecaptain thing during the past ten years, save some track on an NME cover CD.

Anyhoo he's on stage right now, hair contained in a bobble hat, acoustic guitar cappoed on second fret and Mary providing backing vocals. Its quiet, laid back stuff. Some fancy fingering, but the strings are buzzing like a bad 'un.

It sound like you'd imagine acoustic Boos b-side demos would sound like, his voice so familiar, and wee flourishes where you can imagine the trumpets would be.

The audience were a bit noisy, a few bursts of silence breaking out during quiet bits, but then the chatter rising again. I wonder what other shows he's got lined up and what new material recorded.

When I got bored of the final band of the night, I found myself crossing the street at the same time as Martin Carr and for a few brief moments I considered the person I would be if not for him and his music. No Boo Radleys, no gig at the Manchester Academy in '95, no first girlfriend, no emotional scarring, no learning to play those songs on guitar, no endlessly going to gigs to try to find the magic like that show at the Academy, no gig review blog. And none of this...

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