MUSIC

The Fleece, Bristol (Nov 28, 2011)

Typical of Billy Bragg: he didn't just show up for a mere gig here on Monday but combined it with a stirring call to arms at the Occupy Bristol camp on College Green a few hours before... with a few tunes thrown in for the protestors as well of course.

Well, this is our main political troubadour after all, a singer-songwriter who’s been railing against the inequalities in society since the days of Thatcher and the Miners' Strike. In our current political mess and in a week gearing up for a mass strike against pension cuts, the Left Field In Motion Tour harks back to things like Red Wedge in the 80s - musicians organising and kicking against the sticks again.

Or as Bragg would have it, 'Polemical Tunes In An Age Of Indifference' (as it says on the cover of his latest album 'Fight Songs'). These times need some fightback from our musicians along with everyone else, and he seems pretty sure that it's starting to happen once more.

Bragg's always been someone who leads by example, a musician and activist who campaigns and gets involved in the political debate. Tonight we get plenty of stirring soap-box rhetoric in between the equally stirring songs.

He really comes from a tradition of left-field political folk. A protest singer, his material is and always has been fairly straightforward, his messages direct and heartfelt, his love songs poignant. There's a simplicity and honesty of emotion that cuts through the crap. At its best it hits home with a subtle power.

Hence we get the tear-jerking lost love of 'St Swithins Day' alongside the historical relevance of 'The Diggers Song', the marvellous anti-fascist polemic of 'The Battle Of Barking' against the tender strength of 'Must I Paint You A Picture'. A strong English folk sensibility that Bragg has made his own sometimes melds with a country feel as in the touching 'I Keep Faith', played as a supportive booster to the youth who are getting more and more politicised in this climate.

The guitar shards and Essex vocals come with impassioned calls for a stand against the draconian plans and cutbacks of the Tory alliance, against the cynicism of people who see no merit in industrial action and against the far right wherever they may fester. Stories about his own political awakening back in the day are cut through with humility and a blokeish (or new-blokeish?) charm and wit.

'Levi Stubbs' Tears' brings a lump to the throat, 'Milkman Of Human Kindness' is a lovely throwback to his genesis, 'Never Buy the Sun' an attack on Murdoch-style grubby tabloid journalism, 'Sexuality' a glorious pop romp with feeling. He ends his set with the defiant war cry of 'Power In A Union' and the positive embrace of encore 'Waiting For The Great Leap Forward'.

In true egalitarian style Billy brings the young support acts, The Sound of Rum and Akala on stage for a final song. The sentiment is faultless, even if the music can't hope to echo his own bold assertiveness, and, well, catchiness. But that's Billy Bragg all over. (Elfyn Griffith)

Words and picture copyright Elfyn Griffith, 2011