José González
Live @ ULU, London, 03/17/05
Not only is it the second day of spring, but it's also St. Patrick's day which means that most people are going to get drunk on Guinness and clog up the streets of London wearing stupid hats which they will end up vomiting into. But despite the racist debacle that St. Patrick's day has turned into, this Thursday is a day of party thanks to Arcade Fire playing a show at the University of London Union. There's been a massive hype around Arcade Fire the last few weeks so naturally their show sold out long time ago and tickets are being sold on eBay for ridiculous amounts. It's definitely a perfect chance for a record label to promote an up and coming act. Weirdly enough someone has decided that it would be a good idea to put José Gonzáles in the support slot, this Guinness drenched day. And sure, there's a fairly large crowd watching him play his songs, but a lot of people are at the back or in the bar, and their chatter almost drowns out José's singing and guitar strumming. For the people in the front, who can actually hear something, it's quite a captivating moment, and Gonzáles' hits such as "Crosses" and "Heartbeats" (a cover of a song by The Knife) all go down well. But for me, who has seen José twice before, with the second one taking place in a small atmospheric bar cellar in East London, tonight's dose only makes me sleepy. To be honest, any artist who plucks away in the spirit of Bert Jansch and John Fahey should ideally be witnessed in a smaller venue and this is partly why I now feel that going one hour early to catch José Gonzáles play yesterday was a bloody waste of time, especially when I could have been in a pub drinking 2-3 pints of Guinness shoulder to shoulder with some twat in a large green hat.
Note: The Arcade Fire were breathtaking.
- Simon Tagestam