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Review: 'OTWAY, JOHN/ ASHBY, THOMAS'
'London, Kilburn, The Good Ship'   


-  Genre: 'Punk/New Wave' -  Release Date: '19th March 2015'

Our Rating:
Well, as the legendary John Otway was playing round the corner how could I not go? He's consistently been the kind of act that has always been worth seeing since I first went and saw him play in the mid 80's and strangely his act is still much the same.

I got in just as Thomas Ashby was going on as support act. He was a young singer/songwriter type who played seated so that he could use his feet to play an upturned snare drum lying on the stage floor with a microphone attached to it. He had a nice tone to his guitar playing and sounded OK in a typical young singer/songwriter way of recent years but with nothing much memorable about the songs he sang.

The best of his own songs was probably Riptide (or the song about over-thinking everything) and he did an OK cover of You Look Good On The Dancefloor. Ultimately, though, I'd be surprised if he ever breaks through. By the time John Otway was finished it was hard to remember anything Ashby had played.

Yes it's now 38 years since John Otway's first hit single and he's still milking it for everything he can. This is probably is why he opens the show by showing us the flicker book of Otway: The movie before opening with that first hit, the timeless classic Cor Baby that's Really Free. As ever it's played for laughs and he makes the most of every bit of humour he can get out of the song before flipping the vinyl over for the B-side; the equally well loved Beware Of The Flowers because well, they'll get you in the end. And by its end everyone in the Good Ship are grinning.

John then shows us how ambidextrous he is by playing his twin neck 12-string guitar for his legendary reworking of The Sweet's Block Buster. Inevitably we all join in on the call and response parts as we all get to "Block Buster" once more his able assistant Deadly The Roadie keeps his deadpan straight face throughout. We come up to date (sort of) for 21 Days To Go and Mobile Phone and it has to be said they are both classic Otway; full of dry humour and good punning.

He almost plays We Know What She's Doing (She's in Love) straight. Well as straight as he can play anything and as he is moving around the stage almost as maniacally as he did in the 80's, he's certainly adding plenty of emphasis to the lyrics. Poetry & Jazz keeps things going nicely as does a great version of Louise (or should that be Louisa on a Horse?) before he gets out his drum pads for the hysterical Body Talk routine that involves Deadly The Roadie having to trigger the effects of the pads that are broken. It's a brilliant end to the first set.

The second set opened with his Bob Dylan routine. He does a great impersonation of Dylan and tells us a great tale of how hearing Dylan was the first time he thought he could sing as well as that! Also, how he gamed the BBC and made sure one of his lyrics was in the top ten lyrics of the 20th century as voted for online. It's then time for his second hit single (yes the second one, really!) Bunsen Burner written as part of his daughter's homework assignment. It's followed by its B-side; Otway's version of House Of The Rising Sun because as everyone knows there is a place...

Punk Rock Rumplestiltskin gives us a good idea of how Otway fitted into the punk movement without ever really being a punk so to speak. We Know What She's Done? Well we would, wouldn't we? Elsewhere, it was good to hear a nice version of Josephine that was about as serious as things got all night.

He then proved he is still as out there as ever with a brilliant You Ain't Seen Nothing. This still comes with somersaults across the stage and as the song builds towards it's climax he climbs his keyboard stand and does a somersault off that too! This was energetic enough when he was in his 30's and 40's but now in his 60's it's a real marvel that he still has the energy. He finished the set with Cheryl's Going Home which was just a great end to a very enjoyable show.

Yes of course he got an encore that he opened by unleashing the Theremin once more for his brilliant re-imagining of Crazy Horses; the old Osmonds' classic that had us all singing along. He then got a second encore and gave us his old classic Give Me Headbutts. Although he doesn't headbutt the microphone quite as enthusiastically as he used to it still looks like it stings and provides a great end to a good fun night out.

John Otway is still regularly touring and I'm sure will start building towards the 40th anniversary of the first hit in 2017 soon. To find out when you can see this legend go to: John Otway online
  author: simonovitch

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