PhotographerAt first I wasn’t a huge fan of Battle Studies. It was a little too ‘pop’ oriented, and there wasn’t enough of his amazing bluesiness on it for my liking (save for Crossroads and Assassin).
Having just seen him play them live, in the flesh, about 2 rows from the front, I completely get it now. The songs make far more sense; seeing him play them without the interference of editing and mastering gives you a far more real sense of the way he intended them to be. The concert was amazing, but I felt slightly gipped by the lack of the Assassin in the set-list: more than compensating for this however was the inclusion of some of the best bits of Continuum, Heavier Things and Room for Squares.
John’s apparently a prodigious live-player back on home turf, but he doesn’t make nearly enough by way of appearances over here. Hopefully he’ll change that in the future; two shows in the course of almost 4 years just isn’t enough given how exponentially his fan base is growing over here. His London show was sold out within an hour for pity’s sake. I was lucky enough to grab a few tickets and see him in the flesh (in what was undeniably the best concert of my life), but I really feel for the poor sods who couldn’t get tickets. Yes, he’s now doing another show at Wembley, but I’d rather he made his way over the Atlantic more regularly than he’s been thus far.
When he does come though, it’s MORE than worth the wait.
