October Gigs, Part One: Albert Lee; Jilted John

October was full of gigs and I embraced all genres from punk to folk, rock to country and Americana to jazz.

Some thoughts will now follow over the course of the next four blog posts.

Albert Lee

Arc, Stockton-on-Tees

13.10.2018

Albert Lee seems to be on tour permanently. I have seen many times in the past as part of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings but this was the first time I had seen him with his own band and set.

It was straight into the action with I'm Ready, which set the scene nicely for the evening of rock 'n' roll to follow.

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It was a set full of highlights, including Restless, Luxury Liner, 'Til I Gain Control Again and a storming encore of Real Wild Child and Tear it Up.

Along the way, he told lot of very interesting stories from his lengthy career, full of fascinating characters such as Emmylou Harris, Buddy Holly, Iggy Pop and The Everley Brothers.

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At 74, he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. Hopefully he will return to Teesside in the near future.

Jilted John

The Crypt, Middlesbrough Town Hall

14.10.2018

We all have a race memory of watching Jilted John on Top of the Pops back in 1978.

Not quite punk and not quite not punk, his performance was the talk of the school playground for some time to come and made Gordon, a boy in the year below me, the only child at St. Peter's Primary School to prefer indoor playtimes.

It seemed completely unrealistic to believe I would ever see Jilted John live and yet the opportunity presented itself, 40 years later, in the crypt of Middlesbrough's Town Hall.

John Otway opened the show with a truly extraordinary set, starting off with his biggest hit - Really Free - and following up swiftly with another that 'was released the same year and sold exactly the same number of copies' (i.e. the B side).

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The choice of songs was extraordinary too, including an almost entirely spoken word version of Sweet's Blockbuster, seemingly as a device to introduce the astonishing double-guitar depicted here, which proved perfect to the task of reproducing the screaming chords for the chorus.

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The highly entertaining set concluded with Headbangers, the very song the most vocal of local yokels had been demanding since the first song of the set. It soon became apparent why this song was saved until last, as it showcased Otway's talent for repeatedly smashing his forehead against the microphone.

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Jilted John's legendary status ensured a capacity crowd down in The Crypt. The eccentric - and extremely hard-working - band added to the occasion and everyone was fully in role and on target from the very first song, I'm Still Jilted John - a worthy update to most famous of all songs featuring a protagonist called Gordon.

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The tempo rarely dropped from this frenetic opener as we were given a musical tour through the highs, lows, chip shops and bus stops of Jilted John's largely unrequited and certainly frustrated life.

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The crowd was never going to let Jilted John escape without an encore and the evening drew to a triumphant end with another blast of Jilted John.

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It is unlikely Jilted John will return for many more tour dates but if he does I am sure the audience will be ready and waiting.