There is something quite special about walking to a gig and spotting people along the way who you know are going to the same place as you.
On Friday night, as I walked along Swan Street, I spotted various groups of people who I just knew were off to see The Pretty Things.
Old Mod’s still in love with that Rhythm and Blues sound, old Rockers still in love with the band’s heavier output from the late 60s and early 70s and finally, the younger people who were not born when The Pretty Things were in their heyday.
Friday night’s gig was part of The Pretty Things 50th anniversary tour and, like many of their contemporaries, it is mind boggling that for all their ups and downs they have survived to tell the tale.
Nowadays, The Pretty Things only actually consist of two original members; vocalist Phil May and Lead Guitarist Dick Taylor. Not that it matters a great deal as the revolving door of Pretty Things members has always held May and Taylor as the nucleus.
Their set opened with their 1965 top 20 hit Honey I Need and was followed by Keep Your Big Mouth Shut from their eponymous debut album.
Phil May’s between song banter made reference to old Manchester haunts that they have played over the years such as The Bodega and the famous Twisted Wheel.
Following six or seven up-tempo numbers that mainly came from the band’s first album, Phil May announced: ‘Right, were going to do a few songs from SF Sorrow”, their 1968 masterpiece.’
Considering they were unable to play the SF Sorrow album live at the time of its release, on Friday, they did a sterling job on the songs that they did play.
SF Sorrow Is Born, She Says Good Morning, Private Sorrow and Balloon Burning all sounded wonderfully powerful and some audience members took part in a late-60’s San Francisco-style dance which was strange to watch considering how removed this all feels from the environment and the time in which this music was written and recorded.
Following the SF Sorrow revisit, the band stripped the music down to its very basics – acoustic guitar, vocal and harmonica. This was the highlight of the evening and Dick Taylor played some wonderful slide-guitar on blues numbers by Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf.
As the band plugged in again a Bo Diddley medley ensued – justifiably so considering it was Bo Diddley’s Pretty Thing that gave the band their name
Barring a drum solo during the medley that prompted one audience member to bellow: ‘Get off and play another f****** song!’, the medley was an impressive one.
The evening ended with a selection of The Pretty Things most celebrated numbers such as Midnight To Six, LSD and Rosalyn; strangely however, there was not enough room for their biggest hit Don’t Bring Me Down.
The band hung around afterwards to sign Vinyl, CD’s and various other paraphernalia and they looked as much at ease chatting to support band The Watchmakers about their set as they did chatting to fans about their different experiences of The Pretty Things over the years.
The Pretty Things probably never thought their career would reach the 50 year mark and they certainly would not have thought that their music would be appreciated by so my different age groups fifty years later.
It seems now that nobody cares whether or not their musicians “die before they get old” (to paraphrase a certain contemporary of theirs) All we seem to care about is still being able to celebrate the music.
Image courtesy of Philippe Brizard with thanks
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