[ originally published 15/09/2014 ]
JOHN OTWAY & WILD WILLY BARRETT
The Globe, Cardiff - 11th September 2014
Support: ???
My only previous Otway experience was at Glastonbury 1995 when he was backed by a full band and completely blew me away with his exuberant and energetic performance. I finally caught him for a second time nearly 20 years later, this time back with his old mucka Wild Willy Barrett. This show was very different but no less entertaining, so much so I had tears of laughter rolling down my face at times.
Otway and Barrett are part folk music duo, part stand-up comedy act - Barrett the nonchalant straight man, Otway the overexcited fool, but both utterly hilariously brilliant. You see, to both Otway and Barrett, the songs form merely part of the show (some would argue they are just a minor part); the art is in the delivery. The anecdotes of their times working together, the stories behind the songs, the interplay between the pair, the props, Otway's clowning, Barrett's near-virtuoso musicianship (he plays guitars, violin, banjo, balalaika, some kind of electronic pedal-steel thing that sounded like racing cars, a bagpipe/guitar hybrid) - all combine to make this as much a theatrical performance as a pop music one.
Several features made this the most unique show I've ever seen: Barrett controlling his guitar volume by placing his amp in a wheelie bin and opening and closing the lid accordingly; Otway playing theramin and electronic drum pads placed at strategic points around his body; and a wanton act of guitar destruction that Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and Paul Simenon would no doubt have emulated if they'd only have had the necessary DIY tools at hand. They also made a point of playing the worst song Otway reckons he ever wrote - his Cold War romance tale Natasha You're A Smasha (But You're Working For Russia) - in order to make everything else sound good by comparison!
And for possibly the first time in some 20 years, it seemed I was among the youngest third of the audience! Don't think that will be happening again anytime soon.
Firstly, the hit...
And next, if you're not sure where this one is going after a couple minutes, please just bear with it...
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