Venue:
The Green Note, Camden
Date: 22/05/2024
Apparently I saw Wesley Stace live about 20 years ago, but I have no memory of it, so as far as I was concerned this was my first time – dragged along by my wife, who is a bit of a fan. It was just him and an acoustic guitar, and the only stuff of his that I have heard features the Attractions as his backing band, so I was a bit unsure how good it would be. I shouldn’t have been – he was great. Amusing banter, great songs all sung and played well.
The audience:
The Green Note is tiny and holds about 30-40 people. We had seats right to the side of the stage so could look out at the audience with more or less the same view as Stace. It was odd to see Clare Balding right at the front. The rest of the crowd was about the same age as her, or a bit older.
It made me think..
I really should give his numerous albums a listen. He’s a songwriter of talent.
He has the following gigs coming up, and if you’re in reach I would go:
Friday May 24: MANCHESTER (The Castle Hotel)
Saturday May 25: LIVERPOOL (House Concert)
Sunday May 26: EDINBURGH (Waverley Bar)
Monday MAY 27: GLASGOW (The Doublet)
Saw him the night before in Reading and a thoroughly good night it was too.
A bloke, a guitar, and a fine back catalogue.
Was his tour promoter there? You could have had a mingle. I wanted to catch him, and Stace, in Brum, but had a clash elsewhere, which was a shame. When this tour was originally mooted, about 5 years ago, organised by @the-pizza-kid, I had liased the arrangement for him to appear at King’s Heath’s sprawling Kitchen Garden Cafe.
(Sprawling? Well, twice the size of the Green Note, thinking, until now, that KGC one of the smallest, and best, venues in the country. As do many performers.)
I don’t know, but I should have mentioned that sitting with Clare Balding was Gina Birch from the Raincoats. So that was also unexpected.