It was always going to be a good night - the last date of the tour, in Liverpool on the first day of flaming June. It proved to be a very good night - meeting a couple of very old friends, making new friends and some very good music.
John Smith sauntered onto the large Philharmonic stage, hands in his suit (!) pockets and harumphed into the mike - there was a pleasingly good sized crowd even at this stage and John got a rousing cheer just for coming on - not bad for a support act - but them he is on his adopted home turf and we have had the pleasure of his playing several times of late, so his following is growing fast. His opening song is the stunning ballad "Cut throat Mountain?". John rips this song out of himself with every performance - such is the venom, angst and regret contained therein, his voice not just raw but seriously grazed sounding, his guitar stroked, stummed, stressed and finally warped to get the sounds he needs. It is a tour de force and deserves to become a folk standard with it's high body count, extreme weaponary, serious love and absolute revenge. He continued with a good variety of songs interspersed with ever more confident banter with the crowd, he comes over quite natural and quietly comfortable on stage, his soft voice and hushed tones giving no hint of the storms in his songs.
The songs themselves are a varied lot, a notable cover in Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" sung with gentle bottleneck guitar, Smith's own "The Green Man" with the bass string being constantly re-tuned to drag out some marvelous sonic effects and ending in a great slap happy descending twang. "Winter" completes many sets with the guitar becoming a percussion instrument and a hammered dulcimer as it is swung onto his lap. John's style is unique, his voice a powerhouse, yet he manages such delicate passages too, and often sighs to himself mid-song.
At the end, to a big cheer, he saunters back off the stage, job done.
A short interval and we are back in our seats, the hall is full, just about sold out I think - we are promised a good night and a few surprises by one who knows and here come the band, and John Martyn wheeled on as ever with his wing arms out, BUT he is clearly in a good mood, "It's a lovely day" he sings as things get plugged in around him, Fender on let's go. "Cooltide". It's the end of tour end of term feeling, things seem well and good, the crowd in good voice give John a good Liverpool welcome, lots of shouting, just like John Martyn crowds used to be, "Come on fatso!" being met with a smile and an admission - "That's more like it!" It's going well, Martin is blowing well on the Sax, Foss Patterson has his eyes closed and head back as "Lookin' On" progresses, Arran Ahmun keeping an almost continuous hi-hat beat with one stick throughout the song, and each of the band took a solo - all well received. The sound was pretty good too, the instruments well separated, although the bass was a bit boomy and the sax a bit quiet - it was good to be able to hear all the instruments even at full tilt.
John's speaking voice seemed clearer than usual too - he even joked about it himself, breaking into complete incomprehensible mumbling deliberately at one point. Introducing the Solid Air section John claimed never to have "stickled" and therefore the album would all be played, but not in the original order. And played it was, in fine style too, with some nice touches including "May you Never" which started out with just John singing with his acoustic guitar and ended up being almost anthemic with the full band joining in as it went along.
The highlights for me were probably "I' d rather be the Devil" which had the full echo effects on and it all sounded just spot on, and "Go down easy" which had a sublime bass part from Alan Thompson and was very gently handled with Martin Winnings playing his surprise "secret weapon" - the clarinet - very sympathetically.
After the title track "Solid Air" John stopped playing any guitars and just sat and sang his heart out on "Rock Salt and Nails" and then "Never Let Me Go" closed the night, John being wheeled off well before the band had finished playing - and with much of the audience on it's feet to bring the tour to an end properly. It was we agreed afterwards a very subtle, melancholic reading of the set tonight, and we were, as is always the case, feeling the loss as the crowd dispersed.
We learned later that the band had been playing under the shadow of tragedy and frankly it was a wonder they played at all, and a credit to them that they pulled off such a good gig in the circumstances.
And so endeth the Solid Air Tour 2007 - the original London gig being extended to an 11 date tour, and then a further 8 being added on as the powers that be came to realise how popular the Great Man still is. More tours are being mooted - lets hope so - John Martyn is a living legend and his music seems timelessly fresh - Solid Air was released in 1973 and can still fill concert halls today - long may he run.
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