An hour and a half of pure perfection yet again! Quick cup of tea round my mum's who lives a few mins away, nice meal and couple of bevvies in the gentrified Empress and then it began!...................Hackney rocked!
Packed solid church (don't see that these days), and when I say packed, I mean packed...'tallest' concert I've ever been to....we had to seriously wriggle through a wall of the tallest blokes in Britain, and, guys, what is it with the hats? Anyway, managed to get a good view in between two tall blokes' ear lobes. Beautiful, beautiful building, nice crowd, friendly security outside (had to giggle to myself when two guys arriving early on asked the security lady 'what time's Richard Hawley coming on?' to which she replied with a grin 'Oh he's on now' - silence and their faces dropped down to the pavement, 'only kidding, not til 9.30' she said and they went 'to the pub for a pint then'.
Fantastic London evening, sweeping rain, cold and grey. What I love about this band is that they always give their all - 100% - and it was a great cause for people with Learning Disabilities and a great gig - RH and the band surpass themselves every single time - as I heard the London guy who was selling 'the last 2 posters' on the way out, shout out, 'Richard Hawley smashed it!'.
If my memory serves me correctly (often doesn't these days, so apologies if not), the band began with 'Standing at the Sky's Edge' and gripped the audience from the start, the lovely 'Don't Stare at the Sun' left us all in thoughtful mood, then sudden change of tempo with Tonight the Streets are Ours had those around me bopping in time and the usually reserved Colin Elliot was really rocking by now! 'Open up Your Door' held a hushed audience in the palm of it's hand, and then, what was my favourite track of the evening, 'Before' with a wistful guitar solo from RH, performed with such feeling that no words exist to describe it, just amazing! The wonderful, hauntingly special 'Remorse Code' was followed by 'Time Will Bring You Winter' and 'Down to the Woods', Shez really getting down with that guitar, the crowd really rocking by now and during which I believe someone fainted down the front - hope they're ok, it was really hot and the band worked really hard and Hackney had no intention of letting them leave without an encore - they provided us with a resplendent 'Ocean', lifting us up, spellbound, on those majestic waves!
It was a dazzling evening and although RH's banter was limited, probably due to time, I am glad to say he still managed to get the most 'fooks' in one sentence in the intro to 'Before'!
_________________ people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but they will never forget the way you made them feel
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