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It was a very busy weekend for me, this here weekend just gone, starting with myself and The Tune Of My Song going to the 100 Club to see John Otway. He was playing with Wild Willy Barret, and though it had been billed as "possibly" the last time they'd ever play together, it was the first time either of us had seen them, so didn't know what to expect. When we got to the venue I looked around for what i expected Wild Willy to look like - basically a slightly tidier, slightly smaller Alan Moore, which is exactly what he DID look like!

I'm used to seeing Otway either on his own, RULING the room, or with the band or Richard, where they're looking on with big GRINS, so seeing him share the stage with someone who clearly ISN'T in awe of him was a very different experience. When they started off Wild Willy was very clearly in charge and doing all the talking, while Otway looked unusually nervous, and the BANTER wasn't exactly aggressive, but was a bit SHARP. As the gig moved on things changed though, as what I gather (from the BOOK and online) is their Default Type Of Interaction (being SNIPPY) faded away into the fact that they've known each other a LONG old time and, actually, quite like each other. This was especially noticeable in the second set, when Willy introduced a song by saying "Otways written a lot of good songs, but I think this is the best", and it was all quite touching.

I've been going to Otway gigs for over 15 years, so it was good to finally see Wild Willy, and it was VERY good to be in the 100 Club, which is a RATHER nice venue, especially now that it's not completely full of smoke. We had a LOVELY evening all round really, and took under full consideration ADVICE we'd received from The Landlady earlier on: "Get bladdered". We did that.

posted 22/10/2007 by MJ Hibbett

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