A Finn Well Made

Published on Wed 14 Nov 2012

It's been a relative quiet couple of weeks, notable only for a growing obsession with Masterchef Australia. It's making me want to cook Fancy Things, but in practice I've just upgraded from microwave in a bag popcorn to cook in a pot popcorn. Which is fairly Fancy to be fair.Talking of popcorn we went to see Skyfall the other week and I enjoyed it a lot. Though, like I always say, I always enjoy films at the cinema. Apart from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Tree of Life. The Vue kids meal wasn't up to much mind. Terrible popcorn.

Last night Annie had a last minute gig supporting Hope and Social at the Hertford Corn Exchange. The Satnav took us what would've doubtless been a very pretty route during the day but was winding and scary in the dark. Not sure what it was playing at given there's a road that goes directly between the two places. The venue itself reminded me of places we used to play in Logan sometimes (Club 85 in Hitchin, the Bury St Edmunds Corn Exchange) - a cross between a village hall and a social club, with clientele to match. Everyone seemed nice though.

Hope and Social were excellent. A proper big sound. Great brass section who were as entertaining when they weren't playing as they were huge sounding when they were. Everyone was wearing light blue blazers for reasons that I don't really understand. I guess one of those jokes that took on a life of its own. Extremely good fun songs with the odd cover medleyed in. Go and see them if you get the chance - I think they're touring a bit this week.

I'm on the train back from seeing Craig Finn, Patterson Hood and Will Johnson at The Union Chapel. I didn't really know what to expect, having not heard Craig Finn's solo record very much and not knowing who the other two were (Patterson Hood is the guy from Drive By Truckers I now know). It turned out they were doing a 3 person on stage each taking turns in playing a song and helping each other out from time to time kind of thing. The only song I knew was the first one and, to be honest, it was only really the Craig Finn ones that I thought much of (and even they lacked some of the genius of The Hold Steady stuff I think). Will Johnson had a wonderful voice and was really effective backing up the other guys and had a few nice lines, the Drive By Truckers songs were generally a little bit obvious for me, though his accent is great.

Everyone's storytelling was excellent - almost better than the songs. The stuff they've seen/done makes you feel bad about yourself. The Union Chapel is a lovely if unusual venue (specifically, it's annoying that they won't let you take beer in from the bar - especially when it's the only chance you'll get to sample "Craig Finn's Clear Heart" - brewed in Stoke) and it was really nice to have nothing to do but listen and drift away a bit. I used to come up with a lot of lyrics at gigs back when I used to come up with lyrics.