"You have our attention...You're in the endzone, don't drop the fucking ball."
That was Billy Bragg's advice to his audience at the Cedar Cultural Center Friday night. He was talking about how the rest of the world is intrigued, impressed, and perhaps even every bit as excited and hopeful as we are now that Barack Obama has taken the Democratic nomination. Standing on-stage by himself, he rallied against the cynicism that has mentally crippled millions of Americans over the years, especially the last 8 or so, and how we need to and can overcome it.
Bragg is known for his impassioned political rants/raves/sermons, and is often called a folk/punk hero. To me that seemed like somewhat of a dubious label, as it is not often that the two go together, but Billy Bragg is just that. He has incredibly positive and uplifting and optimistic things to say, both in spoken word and in song, yet he's not afraid to relentlessly curse and he acknowledges that some people cannot stomach him or his music. "You either love me or you fucking hate me" he proudly declared. But those that would hate him would be of a different political persuation than those in attendance this evening.
The crowd was made up of new fans like me and people that have been coming out to see Bragg for over 20 years in Minneapolis. He continuously made references to his storied past here, recalling some voice troubles he had last time, when he just let the audience sing the songs, and playing various other clubs in town. Bragg is a huge proponent of Throat Coat tea, a really funny and clever man, and has a tremendous sense of his responsibility and role as an artist to inspire and energize his fans, as they do for him.
-
It was an entertaining, rocking, politically heartening night.
Here is some footage of the encore, including "Don't Think Twice it's Allright"
No comments:
Post a Comment