Was at the Ferry last night to see AFL and it was a pretty extraordinary evening.
AFL and his band were as excellent as ever - with a bit of variation this time round as he had a horn player instead of an organist. AFL is an excellent guitarist and the set sprinkles a whole musical history alongside his own numbers - last night including an excellent rendition of Les Paul's first recorded song Just Because as a tribute to the late legend.
But what made last night extraordinary was the crowd. The Ferry was packed (much busier than that "other band" I saw there the other week) but was at least three times busier than the last time AFL played last year.
Where did these people come from? They were all committed fans and the singing along with things like Wide Eyed And Legless, (If Paradise Was) Half As Nice and (my favourite) Bend Me, Shape Me was LOUD. Jings, there were even women of a certain age that screamed when he started Hello Susie!!!! The response to a lot of the old blues, gospel and rock'n'roll songs was rapturous as well.
Must confess I've never seen anything like it in a while. The type of circuit that the Ferry is part of seems to operate on a degree of low degree certainty where an increase of an audience of this nature is extremely unusual.
And it very clearly knocked AFL and the band for six as well. I was really pleased because I'll happily rhapsodise about him at the drop of a hat and was pleased when he started touring in his own right four years ago - the first time I saw him was in a sparsely attended Queen's Hall in Edinburgh so this represented quite a triumph for him.
