JD McPherson

Venue:

KOKO, London

Date: 16/06/2015

Three months ago I was none the wiser about Oklahoman JD McPherson and his retro styled rock n roll/rockabilly noise until pointed in his direction by @pencilsqueezer. Since then, his feel good stripped back album “Let the good times roll” has been an ever present lifeboat. I couldn’t even claim to be a fan of the genre – OK in small doses I suppose. A couple of weeks ago I spotted he was to be playing London and started the painful should/shouldn’t I go prevarication. Anyway, on the day my mind was decided and a ticket bought.

What a fabulous night – not generally disposed to this dancing lark, I soon found myself shuffling and swinging to the groove. It started well (though Bob will probably disagree) with electric blues guitarist, Big Joe Louis and his trio warming up an already appreciative audience with half an hour of boogie. On to the main act. Ex-teacher JD, took guitar and vocals was supported by a quartet comprising piano/organ; double/electric bass; drums and rhythm guitar/sax. The effect was an act as tight as a ducks arse, playing their hearts out to an appreciative audience. And did they rock – no uneasy silences, no incessant guitar swapping and a lot of sweat.

Having arrived in the country earlier that day and recorded a session for Bob Harris, I could have forgiven them departing the stage after an hour, but three minutes later they were back for another thirty minutes. There was interaction with the audience, calls for requests, and the impression they really were enjoying the gig. Having only heard the latest album, I can’t shed too much light on the set composition, but if say 40% came from that, another 40% from his first album and the remainder made up of rockabilly ‘classics’ then it wouldn’t be too far from the mark.

I love it when expectations are exceeded like this. I went in fretting about not missing the train home, I left wondering where I could go next (answer, sensibly: the station). Oh, and less than £20 for two hours entertainment.

The audience:

There was a fair mix between young hipsters and old fogies and very few in-between. It was good to see quite a few of the girls really going to town with the 1950s clothes, hair and make-up. The one downside was the number of phones and cameras being wafted around, not least the twonk in front of me who seemed to video the first half of each song (in portrait), then put his glasses on to look at his recording for the second half. He must have been nudging 60. If I hadn’t had such a good spot close to the front dead centre I would have moved.

It made me think..

How do people dance in a crowd without poking people with wayward elbows or being accused of involuntary bottom touching. Somehow, I managed neither.

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