Nick at Komedia, Brighton,
Wednesday 8 / Thursday 9 October 2003
by Sue Burnham


Fun with the front row

Its been a bit of a Harperesque-fest this week, with Roy's gig on Monday in sunny Worthing which was, as others have already described, quite superb. Keep on dipping into "the book" and its just amazing.

Then two (whoohoo!) nights with Nick at the Komedia, which is an excellent venue, although it's had a makeover since we were last there so things seemed, confusingly, to be in the wrong place until we got used to the new layout (very nice new toilets, with lots more ladies loos - so no queues, but what have they done to the PA? The old one sounded much better to my untrained ear - and it was louder too). Anyway, enough mithering...

Had a brief chat with Nick in the bar before Wednesday's gig and he seemed pretty pleased that the CD was (at last) available; he is also of the opinion that its the best thing he's done so far (have only had time to play it once, but it is indeed a very impressive piece of work, filled with love and warmth). No support act, so Nick straight on stage around 9 pm to an enthusiastic reception from a large-ish and attentive audience. There were a few tuning problems for the first part of the gig but it was a stonking set, scattered with several songs from the new album which were very well received. Nick talked a bit about the CD saying that its all about his family and how proud of it (and them) he is.

Back for Round 2 on Thursday with a bigger, slightly noisier crowd (Thursday is the new Friday, apparently); we shared a table with Big Chris who helpfully kept Nick supplied with cooking lager all evening... More banter from Nick tonight, particularly as his voice "failed to turn up" as he put it, for the first 2 or 3 songs. When it finally arrived he treated us to an amazing couple of hours of music, amusing banter with the crowd, the obligatory string break and an impromptu "unplugged" version of Titties & Beer for an encore (his batteries had packed up) sung standing on a chair, with the crowd, including several Levellers, lapping it up.

A really superb couple of nights - if you're not already, try and get to see Nick on this tour, drag a few mates along and buy that CD - after all, he's got a couple of pulses to support now :)

See Sue's other photos from this gig here



Created 12 January 2004
© SB/PLC 2004