Billy Bragg at the El Rey, June 10, 2008
Billy Bragg doesn’t beat around the bush. In fact he spent quite a lot of his stage banter time talking about his dislike for W., in between a range of topics including English tea. He also professed his enthusiasm for Barack, saying, “Never would I have imagined the possibility of a black American president in my lifetime.” After spending his entire career singing about politics, and every now and then, the politics of love, Bragg may have a right to wax political. He didn’t let all the campaigning get in the way of the musical content as he played a long set with a sprinkling of songs from his new album, Mr. Love & Justice, the first in six years. He ended the night with a seven song encore of the entire Life’s a Riot w/ Spy vs. Spy album.
Set List:
This Guitar Says Sorry
The Warmest Room
Farm Boy
The Myth of Trust
Mr. Love & Justice
Greeting to the New Brunette
I Almost Killed You
The Space Race Is Over
If You Ever Leave
Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
I Ain’t Got No Home
Old Clash Fan Fight Song
I Keep Faith
There Is Power in a Union
Help Save the Youth of AmericaEncore:
The Milkman of Human Kindness
To Have and to Have Not
The Man in the Iron Mask
Richard
Lover’s Town Revisited
The Busy Girl Buys Beauty
A New England
Nice work, you literally got his mug shot (ha, haha. ha.) Is he calling you out johnny cash style in that lead-in photo?
I forget what he was talking about in that photo, he was making repeated jab gestures to illustrate a point. That’s funny because he actually talked about how easy it would have been to be a guitar player in Johnny Cash’s band.