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John Otway is a curious face I've seen on posters in my local gig venue
for over a decade, and more recently on Top of the pops so when i saw he was
playing at gig in my old school hall in my old village where the most exciting
event of the last there decades was the demolition of the old post office and
the erection of Huncotes first fish N chip shop I just had to go.
Accompanied by HoBo Web (Huncote Branch) we headed for Huncote primary school,
up the forest road, past where Aaron used to live and the lovely Wayne who once
took pleasure in covering my hands in dog shit, and strangely enough in to the
house where the kind Adcock family helped remove the said dog shit, to pick up
HoBo Webs lady, HoBo Dawn. Oh the sweet memories come flooding back. actually
they don't, I feel strangely removed from all this as though it all happened to
someone else. I'd love to feel nostalgic twinges but I don't. Onward in to the
school hall in which I haven't stood for nearly two decades. I saw my first ever
film here, Bugsy Malone at Huncote film club and was so engrossed by it I had to
be dragged kicking and screaming from the building, unhappy to have left the
alternate state of consciousness created for me by Tullula and custard guns.
We sit at old school dining tables in a hall which once played host to one of
twentieth century Britain's greatest divides, dinners or packed lunches. I was a
dinner type but there was a something cool about the sandwich eating types I
could never realise, and still can't.
I could be a multi millionaire and still not feel part of that packed lunch
crew. Isn't school awful?
Ok, I 'll save the rest for a shrink, on to the show.
John Otway looks like a man but acts like a kid. That's just fine by me,
watching a grown (very grown) man loon about the stage of my old school hall is
akin to watching a teacher suddenly go berserk, ie fantastic. John plays songs /
poems from his 25+ year career including his first UK hit Cor baby that's really
free, and his latest top ten hit Bunsen Burner (burn baby burn), and a great
song for "anyone who's wife or girlfriend has been in prison lately".
As he is alone on stage with just his guitars and a theremin the latter hit is
read in the form of a poem, and it still works. He used to be accompanied by a
guy called Wild Willy Barret, but he has been replaced by a fuzz box. We are
given a cover of Sweets Blockbuster which has to be seen rather than explained.
There are stunts too and props, a stepladder is brought in to play and John
gladly falls off it for laughs, most commendable, he even draws blood for us.
John Otway has more energy than many performers half his age and some nice tunes
too. A good opening to the Leicester comedy festival then and an act to
recommend to readers of the HoBo.
HoBo says
"What happened to Wild man Willy?"
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