Mick Thomas - The Troubadour London
Great to see my buddy Mick Thomas play another fine show in London on a lovely Friday night at The Troubadour in Earls Court. One of the last remaining original 50s Coffee Houses in London, the basement venue has allegedly played host to a range of classic folk/rock performers - although I could not find evidence of Jimi Hendrix playing there as they claim, wikipedia does confirm Bob Dylan did play there in Christmas 1962 as Blind Boy Grunt.
Anyway - back to more contemporary times - Mick was touring with Sure Thing/Weddings, Parties, Anything drummer Michael Barclay - and although I initially thought the pairing might produce a bluesy Black Keys / White Stripes-esque combo; in fact the mode was much more relaxed and subtle with Barclay mostly contributing his angelic backing vocals, plus light percussion with an assortment of shakers and a box-like drum he sat on that produced a range of snare sounds when tapped in different locations.
The setlist was drawn pretty heavily from his just-released 'Spin! Spin! Spin' album, the standouts of the new material for me being "Selling The Cool Car For You", "Garage Sale", "Driving Rain" and "At Their Record Launch".
Notable stand-outs from the back-catalogue included the opening "Forgot She Was Beautiful", "Father's Day", "A Tale They Won't Believe", "Rain In My Heart", "Baked a Cake", "Away Away" and "Monday's Experts".
Having last seen Mick play in Melbourne last Christmas it was interesting to see how he succesfully structured a show for European audiences - including locally based material like "Explaining The Offside Rule to You" and a rivetting "Hard Currency" to close the first of two sets.
I went along with my friends Rach and Nick, and during the between set break we debated the two primary models of Mick Thomas songs. I remarked how much I enjoyed the more narrative and slightly serious songs (like the aformentioned "Hard Currency", "Away Away" and show closing " For A Short Time") but Rach, more of a casual fan, was clearly more in tune with the humorous lighter material like "Can I Sleep On Your Floor" and "Tommy Didn't Want You" - which judging by the laughs and strong response from the crowd - a lot of the audience seemed to favor as well.
Still - it's great that there's two sides to the show, and it certainly makes the evening more enjoyable to bounce between the darker and lighter stuff.
Anyway - back to more contemporary times - Mick was touring with Sure Thing/Weddings, Parties, Anything drummer Michael Barclay - and although I initially thought the pairing might produce a bluesy Black Keys / White Stripes-esque combo; in fact the mode was much more relaxed and subtle with Barclay mostly contributing his angelic backing vocals, plus light percussion with an assortment of shakers and a box-like drum he sat on that produced a range of snare sounds when tapped in different locations.The setlist was drawn pretty heavily from his just-released 'Spin! Spin! Spin' album, the standouts of the new material for me being "Selling The Cool Car For You", "Garage Sale", "Driving Rain" and "At Their Record Launch".
Notable stand-outs from the back-catalogue included the opening "Forgot She Was Beautiful", "Father's Day", "A Tale They Won't Believe", "Rain In My Heart", "Baked a Cake", "Away Away" and "Monday's Experts".
Having last seen Mick play in Melbourne last Christmas it was interesting to see how he succesfully structured a show for European audiences - including locally based material like "Explaining The Offside Rule to You" and a rivetting "Hard Currency" to close the first of two sets.
I went along with my friends Rach and Nick, and during the between set break we debated the two primary models of Mick Thomas songs. I remarked how much I enjoyed the more narrative and slightly serious songs (like the aformentioned "Hard Currency", "Away Away" and show closing " For A Short Time") but Rach, more of a casual fan, was clearly more in tune with the humorous lighter material like "Can I Sleep On Your Floor" and "Tommy Didn't Want You" - which judging by the laughs and strong response from the crowd - a lot of the audience seemed to favor as well.
Still - it's great that there's two sides to the show, and it certainly makes the evening more enjoyable to bounce between the darker and lighter stuff.
