and that time is a gig by the perennial favourite Eric Bibb. Astonishingly, it’s been over four years since we last saw Eric in concert (as this time, it was at the Apex in Bury St. Edmunds). More worryingly, it’s been nigh on three years since we ventured to ant live music at all, prior to our reintroduction via The Young’uns in Aldeburgh recently.
There was a short support slot from Michael Jerome Brown, who I found a little underwhelming vocally, although his guitar playing shoed promise 🙂 As that presaged an almost revelatory lead guitar stint as part of Eric’s band, along with Paul Robinson on drums and Glen Scott on bass, it was perhaps as well that this post’s author had at least acknowledged Browne’s undoubted skills as a musician!
Bibb had a new album out and he featured a few in the live set. Two I particularly found appealing were ‘People you love‘ a beautiful piece about how the aforementioned are always with you, and not only in the physical realm, as their thoughts and prayers will carry you through the times that aren’t the best; Secondly an angrier song, that brought an outbreak of sweat to the stage, called ‘Call me by my name‘ detailing the exploitation of the under classes, often called boy when in all civilised society their chosen name should be used. The new Album is called “Ridin’“
Bibb always mixes it up at these gigs but his concerts are always universally positive. He has a kind of ‘soldier on, persevere and things will turn out ok view of life’, and for an evening he can seemingly make a believer of us all! He threw in ‘Don’t Let no one Drag Your Spirit Down‘ and ‘The Needed Time‘ for all said believers and all encores were assured!
We stopped overnight and preceded the gig with a pleasant Italian meal but the planned visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury scheduled for the following day had to be postponed. We definitely aren’t as young as we like to think, sadly. We consoled ourselves with the notion that we needed to be sprightly enough to give both the museum and its artist full due care and attention.