Singing and laughing along with a pro
Published 18 Feb 2012 09:30
0 Comments
Jagz is one of my favourite venues, and now it's a favourite of Richard Digance too.
And it was only right that the comedy song writer should pick up new fans at his new venue as well as meeting up with plenty of old ones.
Digance is on a mission to support small music venues and is playing 104 of them on his 2012 tour.
Four nights in, he arrived at Jagz, mingling with the audience at the bar before taking to the stage for an evening of his comedy songs mixed with social commentary and rooted in folk, all inspired by his love of ragtime on the guitar, inspired by Mississippi John Hurt.
He described the evening in his typical self deprecating way as 'a bit of honest fun' but for the audience, aged 13 up to significantly senior, it was a wonderful night of songs that had us crying with laughter, enjoying sentimental memories of sweets from bygone childhoods and reflecting on the waste of young lives in the First World War.
Digance, who is 63 on Friday, has had a very varied career, he supported Tom Jones on tour ("I died on my arse - every night for 67 mights"), toured with Steve Martin ("He's painfully shy"), spent seven years singing his take on the news on Pebble Mill At One, 19 years in Dictionary Corner on Countdown and upset his dad so much by wearing stage make-up for The Old grey Whistle Test that they did not speak for eight years - he says.
In between the anecdotes we sang along with Saga Lout, gave our verdict on a new song not played in public before, which Digance admitted was basically a list of ingredients he found on packets in his kitchen and made them rhyme (we all quite liked it) and covered the 13-year-old's ears for the hysterical rubber doll song. The touching Ballad Of Johnny Puller, inspired by the football match in the First World War played by German and British soldiers on No Man's Land during a Christmas truce, was listened to intently while songs like Old School Photograph and Your Remembers did that brilliant trick of taking memories of life we all shall and making them seem hilariously funny.
From the 13-year-old to her grandparents we all loved the show and, despite having some awkward questions to answer about dolls for adults, I would recommend Digance to teenagers as an expert in the fading art of using music as social commentary as well as enjoyable entertainment. These political times provide the right fodder for a new generation of musicians to use their talents to highlight contemporary issues.
The tour comes back this way on April 11 when Digance will be at Camberley Theatre. Full tour dates at www.richarddigance.com, call Camberley Theatre booking office on 01276 707600.
More from Richard Digance in the next edition of The Villager.
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
