Lou Barlow at Dingwalls

The past couple of weeks have been very memorable to me in a lot of ways and I doubt very much that I’ll forget it for a very long time, if ever. I’ll begin with last Wednesday (the 3rd of May). Lou Barlow, the lead singer of Sebadoh, was playing a solo gig at Camden Dingwalls. This was something of a treat for me as I’ve always loved Sebadoh but their live shows have often been very patchy. The real reason for the show was to promote the new Folk Implosion record “One Part Lullaby” of which I’m not a huge fan to be honest. So I was hoping for not much of that and lots and lots of Sebadoh! Anyway, I arrived later than anticipated at Dingwalls so I made a beeline straight for the bar, as I knew it would take me absolutely ages to get served. I wasn’t wrong either and it’s the one thing I detest about Dingwalls. Needless to say, when I got served 10 minutes later I ordered two pints of Kronenbourg so I wouldn’t need to take a return trip to the bar. I then found a spot on the first level up and watched the opening act. I didn’t catch their name but it was an acoustic duo that unfortunately insisted on sitting down to play their entire set. Because Dingwalls’ stage is quite low this meant that 90% of the crowd couldn’t see anything. The duo were fairly entertaining and they had some pretty, if uninspiring and unmemorable songs. They did go on a bit too long and, getting bored after a while, I decided to go and find some cooler air. Back on the subject of beer, I’d struggled my way through my first pint of Kronenbourg and after two sips of my second I decided to go and pour the rest down the toilet. It was fucking HORRIBLE stuff and has probably put me off Kronenbourg for life. Begrudgingly, I queued up at the bar and eventually got three bottles of Budweiser to last me the rest of the night. Then I went down fairly near the front to secure a good spot to watch Lou Barlow. His performance was nothing short of stunning in my opinion. Lou was self-effacing and even seemed nervous to be performing alone as well. When he used his backing tracks to some of the Folk Implosion songs he almost seemed quite bashful to use them and jokily said at one point “I’m going to sing another one to my machine now”. Thankfully, the Folk Implosion songs sounded a lot better to me here than on the record. However, it was the Sebadoh songs he played which really stood out for me. Lots of classics were played including Beauty of the Ride, Rebound, On Fire, Willing To Wait, Soul and Fire, Magnet’s Coil and Skull. There were some even older songs played too like Punch in the Nose, Sexual Confusion and Brand New Love, which is what he opened with. The nice surprise for many I think was a full rendition of Gimme Indie Rock complete with heckling from the crowd when he got to the part about Dinosaur Jr. :-) The only bad part about the evening was this prick just behind me who was yap, yap, yapping away through nearly every song in the first 20 minutes. I got so pissed off with it eventually that I just turned round and said “if you insist on talking then go to the fucking back”. He gave me a glare which probably meant “I don’t like what I just heard” but in a much less polite manner. Nevertheless, he did seem to shut up and the rest of the gig was all the more enjoyable because of it. Sadly, after two hours and two encores it was all over and I went home happily via a fast-food stand near the Electric Ballroom for a lovely burger.