new Graham gig | Live For Beirut | Jazz Cafe 11 December 2020

[themanwholefthimself]

There is a rumour that The Vaccines will open the show.

I've just read this and it really cracked me up

Who else is watching the stream? I'm super ready! And i got the feeling he's going to play something new today.

I thought it might be a very busy weekend over here.

[Veikko]

Setlist:
This House
Flights To The Sea (Lovely Rain)
Can't Find My Way Home (Blind Faith cover)
You May Never (John Martyn cover)
Walking All Day
One For Jo (Berth Jansch cover)
Baby, You're Out Of Your Mind
See A Better Day

The last two songs were added at the last minute.

Ps. The Vacciness cancelled.

[lumaka]

Was it? I haven't seen it…

[rich]

I haven't seen it either, but blurceska's review seems very harsh. Looks like it was written by someone who hasn't seen Graham play solo gigs live before. Yes he can appear nervous, but usually the love and collective will from the audience pulls him through...

[themanwholefthimself]

I loved it, it was very intimate and very Graham. I really felt like i was there with the audience. Everything went well and i think he wanted to follow the time slot he was assigned and when he was asked to play one final song he had to improvise and played See A Better Day, which is a great closer. Maybe he forgot the lyrics a couple of times, but the songs he had prepared for his setlist were perfect. It wasn't a solo gig, it wasn't a festival, it was an event for charity and he delivered. Everyone who knows Graham, knows what to expect.

[Caitlin]

Was it? I haven't seen it…

Thanks for screenshotting, I missed that before it was removed on twitter. Why someone would think that's an appropriate comment to make to someone is beyond me...

Also that Blind Faith song was an excellent choice to cover.

[dougharrison]

I was lucky enough to be able to go and knew 7 or 8 others there from previous Blur/Blur side project type gigs.

Think I can say unanimously from those I spoke to at the time and since, that those in attendance enjoyed it. Given the intimate nature of the venue and the required sitting down aspect of the show, it was always likely to be an acoustic gig pulling on more mellow aspects of Graham's catalogue.

I felt that Graham played well and enjoyed a bit of rapport and conversation with the audience, to that extent he was more open and accommodating than I expected, particularly to pay an extra song or two at the end of his planned set. Given the asked for requests I think baby you're out of your mind was unplanned. It seems incredibly harsh when a musician with over 30 years of back catalogue plays an extra song or two in an 8 song set, to be "under-rehearsed" and speaking for myself I would far rather have heard those "under-rehearsed" tracks than have a shorter set.

I'm not sure how close the cause is to Graham's heart, it's not one I was particularly aware of, but after hearing the host and seeing the video, I was in no doubt that it felt like a good cause. Ultimately whether he was motivated more by the cause, an appeal from the host or just a desire to play live again I think the vast majority were appreciative of both his time and his performance. One might say when one have nothing to say to the topic, he/she should not to troll is this way.

[vitekm]

I haven't seen it either, but blurceska's review seems very harsh. Looks like it was written by someone who hasn't seen Graham play solo gigs live before. Yes he can appear nervous, but usually the love and collective will from the audience pulls him through...

Well, it was me who wrote this at Twitter. I saw Graham playing a solo gig many times, I even travelled abroad to attend his solo show back in 2012. I loved videos from his last tour, solo accoustic in 2018. I´d say I love Graham´s stuff as much or sometimes even more than Blur.

As for friday, I still think it was underwhelming, especially on his own songs. I still think its weird not to to be able/willing to rehearse a few songs more properly when you are to headline a fundraising gig. I don´t find it cute or amusing. I just think its a pity to thwart ones own art in this way. This is the opinion part. But it was unnesesary, at least, to tag him and to be harsh. I did it spoontaneously late at night and I wish I didn´t. That was emotional/overacting part. This is how I feel about it. I deleted the post yesterday because it went crazy there. I´m not a troll type enjoying the backlash.

[dougharrison]

Well, it was me who wrote this at Twitter. I saw Graham playing a solo gig many times, I even travelled abroad to attend his solo show back in 2012. I loved videos from his last tour, solo accoustic in 2018. I´d say I love Graham´s stuff as much or sometimes even more than Blur.

As for friday, I still think it was underwhelming, especially on his own songs. I still think its weird not to to be able/willing to rehearse a few songs more properly when you are to headline a fundraising gig. I don´t find it cute or amusing. I just think its a pity to thwart ones own art in this way. This is the opinion part. But it was unnesesary, at least, to tag him and to be harsh. I did it spoontaneously late at night and I wish I didn´t. That was emotional/overacting part. This is how I feel about it. I deleted the post yesterday because it went crazy there. I´m not a troll type enjoying the backlash.

As much as I very strongly disagree with your opinion on the gig, fair play to you for standing by your opinion and for showing some remorse.

We've all said and done some silly things in our past, sadly the nature of social media is such that these things seem to be forgiven less easily these days. Far easier for people to jump on as part of a self righteous and often virtue signalling dog pile. Personally I came off Twitter because I found it had become to toxic in general, one of my best friends was forced to leave the country for over a month after something he said provocatively on a local Facebook group went viral, his self-employed business gone overnight etc.

[vitekm]

Ironically, I´m trying to promote Graham stuff there and on other platforms, this was the first time I had someting harsh to say and it backfired greatly. I didnt mind his reply, I would love him as musician even if he wrote "shut up, asshole" or something like that. But people who came to defend him started to write things that made it look like I´m dissing Graham for very playing a charity gig and so on. Still I regret if I have hurted him by saying overly harsh things.