Pynchon

Sorry about that. I'm not too sure what happened last night. I just got very tired. Well, it was late, I suppose.

Sorry to be an anorak, but I've just remembered something else for the David Essex biog, although it is more about something he didn't do, rather than something he did do.

Apparently in 1974, when Ken Russell was mid preparation for the "Tommy" movie, there were reservations as to whether Roger Daltrey would be allowed to play the lead role, despite the fact that he had (obviously) created the role on record and onstage. David Essex was considered to be a good fall back option. I think I read that in the very good Keith Moon biography "Dear Boy" written by Tony Fletcher. I don't know if David Essex would have been good or not in that role. He has always had a good voice, but I've never thought of it as a rock voice.

Anyway, the gig.

It was... surreal. I'll tell you why.

David Essex's core audience in the early 70's would have been pre-teen and teenage girls. (Hi, Lorraine!) The way these things normally work is that the audience for a teen pop star or group eventually grows up and moves on, but if the artiste is smart, talented or lucky enough, the audience would move with them and they would enjoy an enduring fanbase. (It has happened in the last 20 years to George Michael.) My impression of David Essex has always been that his audience did not move with him and he found other things in showbusiness to do.

I experienced something at the Symphony Hall on Wednesday night that surprised me. I've never seen it before. Middle aged mania.

I knew something was up when the introduction music started, several hundred women rushed the stage and everybody else stood up. David Essex came on and the audience erupted. They went fucking mad. It was (gulp) a proper pop concert.

Middle aged ladies (I estimate that 90% of that audience were ladies between 40 and 50) are not supposed to act like that. Are they? It was as if the exact same audience that had witnessed one of this gigs at somewhere like the Birmingham Odeon in 1974 had gathered en masse to celebrate his return with exactly the same enthusiasm.

This is what David Essex looks like these days.



Still twinkly eyed. A bit older, not so much hair (and what he does have is a bit greyer) but he looked and sounded good.

He did most of the hits ("Rock On", "Gonna Make You A Star", "Lamplight", "Hold Me Close", "If I Could", etc.) but didn't do "Stardust", "Oh, What A Circus" or the magnificent weepy "A Winter's Tale", which was a shame.

I was impressed that he seems to be still trying to move forward. He did a lot of (frankly) unmemorable songs from his new album "Beautiful Day" (available from his website, fans!) and talked about a musical he had written that he intends to stage in September 2007; possibly in the West End. Strangely, considering I wasn't impressed by any of the songs from his new album, the songs from the musical sounded really good and tuneful. Maybe we will see him next year when the musical happens.

Was he as good as he was last year, when he appeared with David Cassidy, the Osmonds and Les McKewons' (sic) Bay City Rollers at the "Once In A Lifetime" show at the Birmingham NEC? No, probably not. That show was just a greatest hits set and was distilled genius. This was a proper gig, designed to promote new material.

Lorraine loved it. That's what really mattered. I took a look at her during the gig and she was swaying and singing along. She looked really happy. I like her to be happy. I don't think I make her happy a lot of the time.

No, I don't think I make her happy.

Sour note, eh?