Review by Nick Corr
Billy Bragg – Chop and Clang at The Forum, Melbourne, Thursday March 16, 2023
Night two of Billy Bragg’s One Step Forwards Two Steps Back three-night residency focusses on his earliest period from 1983-1986 and his first three releases “Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy” (1983), “Brewing Up With Billy Bragg” (1984) and “Talking With The Taxman About Poetry” (1986) or as Billy has taken to calling them “the orange one, the green one and the blue one”.
This is Braggy at his most politically potent, before he moved more into politics of the heart. He’s also at his most spikey musically, featuring sharp percussive guitar, as he quoted a review of the time, his “chop and clang” period.
True to his early Eighties performances, it was mostly Billy solo on electric guitar, although keyboard player Neil Anderson joined for a handful of songs mid set and in the encore including ‘A Lover Sings’ and ‘Honey, I’m A Big Boy Now’.
‘The Milkman of Human Kindness’ got the first massive crowd singalong for the night – with Braggy leaving the chorus to the packed but polite Forum audience – save for the hard “t” at the end of pint in the chorus, which he explained he needed to keep his timing.
Slipping back into his mid-Eighties period musically, also seemed to prompt Billy to slip into his more political persona, so there was a range of issues discussed with a focus on trans rights and a plea to ensure Australia takes learnings from Brexit to be wary of complacency with the forthcoming Voice referendum.
Musical highlights included a great cover of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ which Billy explained he used to play in the early Eighties, until Paul Weller asked him to stop playing it on his 1984 tour supporting The Style Council tour because it sounded too much like Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on The Water’.
While the show featured his most early songs, there have been a few contemporary lyrical adjustments. His cover of The Almanac Singers ‘Which Side Are You On?’ has dropped “boys” to be more inclusive; with ‘It Says Here’ “if you wake up to the fact that your paper is Tory” the more eloquent “remember there are two sides to every story” is replaced with a simple “bin it”. And spoken word unrequited love B-side ‘Walk Away Renee’ rather than “cut her hair” the protagonist now “votes Tory” and he stops loving her.
Fittingly the night closes with ‘A New England’ probably the best known Billy Bragg song from this period, another massive crowd singalong, and sweetly Billy includes the additional final verse he wrote for Kirsty McColl and her top-ten recording from 1985.
Full Setlist:
Billy Bragg – Chop and Clang at The Forum, Melbourne
Night two of Billy Bragg’s One Step Forwards Two Steps Back three-night residency focusses on his earliest period from 1983-1986 and his first three releases “Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy” (1983), “Brewing Up With Billy Bragg” (1984) and “Talking With The Taxman About Poetry” (1986) or as Billy has taken to calling them “the orange one, the green one and the blue one”.
This is Braggy at his most politically potent, before he moved more into politics of the heart. He’s also at his most spikey musically, featuring sharp percussive guitar, as he quoted a review of the time, his “chop and clang” period.
True to his early Eighties performances, it was mostly Billy solo on electric guitar, although keyboard player Neil Anderson joined for a handful of songs mid set and in the encore including ‘A Lover Sings’ and ‘Honey, I’m A Big Boy Now’.
‘The Milkman of Human Kindness’ got the first massive crowd singalong for the night – with Braggy leaving the chorus to the packed but polite Forum audience – save for the hard “t” at the end of pint in the chorus, which he explained he needed to keep his timing.
Slipping back into his mid-Eighties period musically, also seemed to prompt Billy to slip into his more political persona, so there was a range of issues discussed with a focus on trans rights and a plea to ensure Australia takes learnings from Brexit to be wary of complacency with the forthcoming Voice referendum.
Musical highlights included a great cover of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ which Billy explained he used to play in the early Eighties, until Paul Weller asked him to stop playing it on his 1984 tour supporting The Style Council tour because it sounded too much like Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on The Water’.
While the show featured his most early songs, there have been a few contemporary lyrical adjustments. His cover of The Almanac Singers ‘Which Side Are You On?’ has dropped “boys” to be more inclusive; with ‘It Says Here’ “if you wake up to the fact that your paper is Tory” the more eloquent “remember there are two sides to every story” is replaced with a simple “bin it”. And spoken word unrequited love B-side ‘Walk Away Renee’ rather than “cut her hair” the protagonist now “votes Tory” and he stops loving her.
Fittingly the night closes with ‘A New England’ probably the best known Billy Bragg song from this period, another massive crowd singalong, and sweetly Billy includes the additional final verse he wrote for Kirsty McColl and her top-ten recording from 1985.
Full Setlist:
The World Turned Upside Down
The Milkman of Human Kindness
The Myth of Trust
Richard
Ideology
St. Swithin’s Day
It Says Here
A Lover Sings
Honey, I’m a Big Boy Now
Greetings to the New Brunette
The Man in the Iron Mask
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Which Side Are You On?
Between the Wars
Levi Stubbs’ Tears
To Have and to Have Not
There Is Power in a Union
Encore:
I Don’t Need This Pressure, Ron
Walk Away Renée
A New England
The World Turned Upside Down
The Milkman of Human Kindness
The Myth of Trust
Richard
Ideology
St. Swithin’s Day
It Says Here
A Lover Sings
Honey, I’m a Big Boy Now
Greetings to the New Brunette
The Man in the Iron Mask
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Which Side Are You On?
Between the Wars
Levi Stubbs’ Tears
To Have and to Have Not
There Is Power in a Union
Encore:
I Don’t Need This Pressure, Ron
Walk Away Renée
A New England