Music / Reviews
Review: Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band, Thekla – ‘A marvellously meandering journey down a musical memory lane’
If there was any justice in the world, Michael Head would be one of the most garlanded songwriters of his generation.
But we sadly don’t live in that world, so we’ll just have to be content that as Storm Darragh approached, Head visited Bristol for the first time since 2017 with his Red Elastic Band.
On board ship, he showcased his genius to fans who know him from various guises over the years with Shack, the Strands and the Pale Fountains.
Wearing a t-shirt with the word ‘love’ on it, Head held up both hands to make a heart as he and his band left the stage at the Thekla after an evening which had taken a marvellously meandering journey down a musical memory lane.
That journey will soon be written down in his memoir Ciao Ciao Bambino, due to be published in 2025 and sharing a title with a track on the Red Elastic Band’s latest album, Loophole.
Among the newer Red Elastic Band tracks, Shirl’s Ghost got one of the best receptions while Toot Suite’s refrain of “S-T-A-Y stay” could have been the crowd imploring Head to remain in Bristol for just a while longer.
Head kept his band and sound engineer George on their toes by switching around the setlist, with George thanked alongside Head’s daughter Alice who he said is “roadie, tech, purse strings, the lot!”
For fans of Shack’s HMS Fable, released in 1999 and out on vinyl for the first time in October, an extended intro to Streets of Kenny was a thing of beauty, with Comedy the other song played from that album.
Guitarist Nathaniel Cummings was wearing a t-shirt featuring Shack’s 2003 album …Here’s Tom With the Weather, and from that, Meant To Be was another highlight in no small part due to Martin Smith on trumpet – who could be heard but not seen by the majority of the crowd.
There is some justice in the world. Michael Head is making some of the best music of his career and performing it live.
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Things you probably didn’t know about Thekla
- Review: Squeeze, Bristol Beacon – ‘Bending time to 1974 and everywhere in between’
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