I bought the first two Willy Mason albums when they came out. The third (released in 2012!) was timed with me moving to Spotify. Now that I’m back into purchasing physical music, you can almost guarantee I’ll pick it up soon. It seems amazing that the last material (barring an RSD collaboration with Brendan Benson in 2013) was 6 years ago. Ste & I had only seen Willy Mason once before. This was back in 2007 at The Outsiders festival (a one year only outdoors activity type festival). We went to the festival mainly for Crowded House, but Willy was a bonus.
Tonight was another of those great intimate Cluny sets. It can be a boiling hot and very loud venue. Tonight the volume didn’t appear to have been turned to 11, but it was certainly warm.
Nina Violet (fiddler for WM) opened proceedings with a solo set (supported by fellow band members on a few numbers). It was a nice set. She tried her best to spruik some cassettes wrapped in purple plastic, but the lack of merch table meant this was a fruitless exercise come the end of the night.
Willy took to the stage with his band and breezed through a fine set without much talk between songs. All the “hits” were played. Some new tunes & a decent amount from each album.
Food: Ste & I decided to just eat in the Cluny. Ste went for a sweet chilli chicken wrap and I plumped for a tart mac n cheese.
Beers: one pint each. I took on board a pint of Space Is The Place from the Out There Brewing Company. Very nice it was too.
The last time we saw Willy Mason was at a one off Festival (The Outsider) in Scotland 🏴 back in 2007. 11 years later and he was in fine voice with his band @thecluny – such good tunes sung with such distinctive vocals. #agigamonth2018 #willymason with @sllewellyn77 pic.twitter.com/WjZtCEHJYg
— Chris Williams (@cwblueroom) September 18, 2018
A Gig A Month 2015-2022 