Globe gig
Went to a benefit gig yesterday at Shakespeare's Globe, for Reprieve, which works to defend death row prisoners in the US. wascally_weasel had heard about it from someone he met who noticed his Steve Earle T shirt, as Steve was headlining.
The setting was great, and we were able to get right to the front which put us really close to the performers. Also, as groundlings, the performers tended to play to us at the expense of the people in the "posh seats".
It was a mix of music and comedy, with Stephen K Amos as MC. The acts were all good, with Kevin Eldon in character as a bad performance poet, Stewart Lee unable to resist the lure of performing Hamlet's soliloquy (badly), and Mark Thomas, a born raconteur, managing to make his stories of activism against the arms trade hilarious.
Not funny (apart from a couple of dry asides) was Nick Yarris, who had spent 23 years on death row.
The music featured David Knopfler (Mark's less famous brother), and a set by the Proclaimers. Which was really good, infectious fun. Clive Stafford Smith, the lawyer and activist, later said that playing Sunshine on Leith repeatedly had inspired him in defending one of his clients a while back.
Allison Moorer (now the sixth Mrs Earle) did a set, looking lovely in black, and Steve played a good mix of his material. He ended, as you might expect, with Ellis Unit One, but didn't play all political material. He did speak in more detail than I've heard him do before about how personally damaging he found the experience of witnessing the execution of Jonathan Nobles.
The setting was great, and we were able to get right to the front which put us really close to the performers. Also, as groundlings, the performers tended to play to us at the expense of the people in the "posh seats".
It was a mix of music and comedy, with Stephen K Amos as MC. The acts were all good, with Kevin Eldon in character as a bad performance poet, Stewart Lee unable to resist the lure of performing Hamlet's soliloquy (badly), and Mark Thomas, a born raconteur, managing to make his stories of activism against the arms trade hilarious.
Not funny (apart from a couple of dry asides) was Nick Yarris, who had spent 23 years on death row.
The music featured David Knopfler (Mark's less famous brother), and a set by the Proclaimers. Which was really good, infectious fun. Clive Stafford Smith, the lawyer and activist, later said that playing Sunshine on Leith repeatedly had inspired him in defending one of his clients a while back.
Allison Moorer (now the sixth Mrs Earle) did a set, looking lovely in black, and Steve played a good mix of his material. He ended, as you might expect, with Ellis Unit One, but didn't play all political material. He did speak in more detail than I've heard him do before about how personally damaging he found the experience of witnessing the execution of Jonathan Nobles.