Saturday, November 24, 2012

The Levellers... 23 November 2012

Dan and I used the excuse of my birthday and our English anniversary by going to see English folk-punk [yes, really!] rockers The Levellers play last night.  For six months, we had tickets for The Civil Wars at the beginning of November, in Coventry, but they cancelled their tour and we missed out.  We don't often go to see live music, so we felt as if we needed to make up for missing the Wars and booked tickets for this Levellers gig. Dan saw them play live in the 1990's and we often listen to one of their albums, Levelling the Land.

Last night in Birmingham, we travelled back in time to the mid-1990's. Long hair, dreads [yes, I blended in --sort of], Celtic tattoos, and ageing rock fans who were teens when Kurt Cobain died were everywhere. Most of the audience, a wildly enthusiastic fan-base who sang along to every song, were absolutely hammered.  The crowded floor was soaked with lager and in the centre of the room, close to where we were standing, there was a mosh reminiscent of a tribal dance taking place. The guys on security were much busier than they were at the Newton Faulkner gig we attended at the same venue [different room] earlier this year!

For the most part, I like The Levellers.  Their style of folk music on speed [probably all too true] is energising and infuses the crowd with a feeling of fun and community.

I don't like their attitude.  It goes with the punk-rebel territory, of course, and as much as I do agree with some of their political views, they promote their ideas in a slightly narrow-minded fashion that leaves no room for disagreement and polarises any nay-sayers. Their anthemic hit "One Way" says it best: "There's only one way of life, and that's your own, your own, your own!" I happen to fully disagree with this attitude towards life.  If I fully lived my life My Own Way that would be one selfish mess, in which there'd be no room for other people or God.






2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:16 pm

    I will apologize from the onset of commenting on your blog. But I must say I do believe the devil lives in Georgia or at least somewhere in the south of the US. In fact, I believe he has cloned himself and lives in most of the southern US.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha ha... OH DEAR. Thanks for speaking up. But why hide in the shadows when you could identify yourself and be associated with your own humorous comment? :)

    ReplyDelete

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