John Martyn - Live (just) in York

Alas it has always been thus with John. Like many alcoholics, when on form he can turn in a performance of magical genius, but when gripped by the illness he is total rambling rubbish.

If only I'd had a pound for every dissapointing JM gig I've been to (and persuaded others to go to) then I'd be a lot richer!

Mole Man

Ah bless him - I'm currently playing the newly remastered and expanded 'One World'.

Worth it for the first studio out-take 'Black Man At The Shoulder' and a live 'Small Hours' alone.

Wonderful.

John.

i went to see jm at southend the other nite and he was piss poor a shadow of his former self. (shame) i must be seriously stupid though as im about to go to shephards bush empire to see him again tonite. glutton for punishment!
scotty

I saw him at the Empire on Sunday night. This is the fith time I have seen him and on not one occasion have I ever thought that I was being short changed. Sure there was no encore and he was virtually incomprehensible between numbers but he ALWAYS musically communicates with me on a level most artists would kill for. To be honest the times when John does ramble are for me the precise moments when unplanned magic occurs.

As regards to his set list, if he played every tune I wanted him to then I would still be sat there grinning now.

I feel lucky that he is still around. A pissed, stoned,late, incomprehensible John is for me a valuable constant in a world of homoginised, corporate, written by commity, souless crap.

Simon - fully agree with your statements. Regardless of how pissed he is a JM gig is guaranteed to send a cold shiver down my spine and put a lump in my throat some time during proceedings.

Slightly surprised on the use of the term pissed in other postings, shouldnt it be legless?!

Thought I would see him in Cardiff this coming Saturday only to find out it was last Saturday - bugger, bugger, bugger.

Andy

Maybe I have been a bit lucky with the concerts I saw. A friend was having a sniff around a jm web forum and found this:

"My worst experience with JM (and I have had a few) was a most surreal affair at the Mean Fiddler in London. My girlfriend and I had persuaded some friends from work (to whom we had given JM tapes) to come to a concert. AS with all JM club gigs, you had to wait some time in cramped overcrowded conditions for him to make his appearance. WE had got there early and had been standing there waiting for a couple of hours and I am starting to get worried. Arran Ahmun, Alan Thompson etc had all been on to check instruments and an announcement came over the PA that John had been delayed on his flight from Sicily and the gig would be starting in about an hour. An hour passed and I am now convinced that JM is not gonna show. WE start to playfully shout things like "Come on John, you are pissed again, get yer arse out here" etc. A couple of middle aged fans in front of us start to get irate with us insulting the great man. But I knew... Eventually, about three hours late, John comes on to applause and picks up his guitar and starts growling and shouting at the sound guys to solve the bit of feedback, then moans at his guitar roadie for tuning his guitar wrong. Bad signs. the band then launches into "Mad Dog days". Then came the big guitar solo. John goes into it and then, amazingly begins to projectile vomit into a bucket that had been placed next to him on stage - all the while playing the fucking solo! He then collapsed in a heap and was dragged off by two roadies as he clutched his stomach. I was the first to the door and got my money back. I could not listen to another JM record for a whole year after that. I am back on track now but his gigs can be a bit hit and miss. A good pal of mine used to work very closely with John and he describes him as a "drunken, mad, Scottish, schizophrenic son of a bitch" which I think sums him up rather well."

It made me laugh.