No video of  the night – so here’s an older video of one of the songs Rory sang.

Why this gig?

Twenty years ago, I was a massive Rory McLeod fan. I know I saw him several times at Glastonbury and I think I saw him at the Cambridge Folk Festival too, But then I stopped going to festivals like that and I rather lost touch with his music, so when I saw this gig advertised I it was about time I caught up with him again.

Support

No support, just two sets from Rory.

Headline

I arrived at the show just too late. All of the seats were taken and I couldn’t see anywhere really comfortable to stand. I ended up leaning up again the corner of the bar. This got really cramped as more and more people arrived. This, of course, has no bearing whatsoever on Rory’s performance. But I think it rather affected my enjoyment.

Rory was just as great as I remember him. And he played a surprisingly large number of of songs that I knew from his early albums. In the first set, over half of the material was stuff I knew. And the newer stuff was all just as good.

Just before the show started I overhead Rory talking to a friend and saying that he was playing two 45 minute sets. But timekeeping was never one of Rory’s strong points. He played for about an hour and a quarter before stopping. At that point, although I was enjoying the show, the discomfort of being rammed up against the bar became too much for me. I struggled through the crowd and went home.

I’d really like to see Rory play again. But the next time he’s in London I hope it’s at a rather more comfortable venue.

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