BILLY BRAGG + SEÁN MCGOWAN | LIVE REVIEW
Tramshed, Cardiff, Sun 19 Nov
Seán McGowan is not a man to be ignored. Loudly introducing himself in a thick estuary accent, he firmly grabs the attention of a steadily filling room and holds it for the next half an hour. He rips through songs from his debut, Graft And Grief, gruffly bellowing out their choruses with all the confidence of a man who knows his star is on the rise, having been picked up by Xtra Mile and toured heavily.
He’s popular too, getting nods of approval from many of Bragg’s audience, who clearly see something of tonight’s headliner in the cheeky lad from Southampton. McGowan makes no show of hiding his admiration for the Bard of Barking, claiming: “I got my politics, my morals, my fucking career from Billy Bragg!” and is understandably chuffed to be opening for his hero on this tour.
The man himself, joined by guitarist CJ Hillman, opens with a storming version of Sexuality, dedicated “to our trans brothers and sisters” and cheekily embellished with a dig at Morrissey. Cutting the song halfway, Bragg chides the crowd for not putting enough oomph into their backing vocals, which immediately doubles the energy in the packed venue. More classics from the back catalogue follow, with an extraordinary version of Must I Paint You A Picture the highlight, even though it’s cut short when someone faints in the audience.
There’s always something extraordinarily life-affirming about a Billy Bragg gig, and tonight is no different. His audience tends, inevitably, to be cut from a similar cloth and it’s hard to think of a more uplifting experience than participating in a mass singalong to the chorus of The Milkman Of Human Kindness; singing “I love you” with another 700 people who, at least for this one night, are all united in wanting to change the world for the better. He describes what he’s aiming for as ‘charging up the activism’ of his audience and, spilling out into the rain after the show, the sense of positivity, of solidarity and collective optimism shared between all who’ve so recently been hugging and whooping along to There Is Power In A Union is palpable.
Music has a unique power to create a sense of empathy in its listener and Billy Bragg, now into the third decade of his career, continues to demonstrate that he can bring people together through song like no one else around.
words HUGH RUSSELL