Albert Hammond Jr.
Monday 20th August 2007
The Village
Dublin

albert hammond jr dublin ireland



Albert Hammond Jr - I bought this as soon as it came out. Didn't use Ticketbastard - walked over to the Village box office and got the pretty brown tickets instead. I bought two, but in the end I went on my own. Sold the other at the door for face value. I walked over from work. I ate porridge for dinner.

The ticket selling was peaceful. It was a calm, cool August evening. It was jacket weather, but pleasantly so. The first guys I approached didn't want just one ticket. The big guy was also unsure about buying just one ticket. By the time he'd changed his mind three girls were giving me the money.

I went in and ordered a whisky. I got a glass of water too. It was eight o'clock. I was too early.

After a while I walked up and sat on the stage. It was more comfortable.

Albert walked through the crowd to go backstage. No-one seemed to notice.

Support came on. They were loud. Seemed to know what they were doing but it didn't sound well. I thought it might have been the PA, but Albert and his friends would prove it wasn't. Maybe they were a good band, but it just didn't seem to work.

The support gear was slowly stripped away and replaced with the Hammond gear. Their pedals had been on stage since I arrived. Lots of nice boxes. Many guitars made their way to the stage. Eventually Mr. Hammond's white stratocaster appeared too. The amps had caught my eye - some seemed like painted black Fenders, and there was a Hiwatt Stack. Two DR103s, one was a spare. The Hiwatt would be used very, very effectively.

The band came on. Sound was perfect straight away. The Hiwatt was enormous, the guitarist using it seemed familiar to me. Maybe I saw him play somewhere else once. Either way, he beat the shit out of that Hiwatt. He was great. Hammond was great too. He sang. He played. Sometimes he stopped playing then started again. When his guitar was used it had his distinctive sound. Then was bass too, and yet another guitarist on the left of the stage. That guitarist also played some keys. Drums were perfect too. It was strange how different they were from support. The jump in quality was immediate and shocking.

Albert wore shiny white shoes and swigged from a plastic cup. The guitarist in front of me swigged from a beer bottle. They were a neat band. I was at the front. I was very close again. Nothing in front of me - maybe four feet away from the show and getting the Hiwatt straight at me. The view was one of uninterrupted brilliance. The tunes and sounds made me smile. The guitarist on the left went for a wander in the crowd at one stage. It was a good show. Albert's hair was enormous, my spelling is getting worse.

The encore was brief. The whole show was about the perfect length. Perhaps one album shows are better that way. Some setlists went off before the encore, I got mine just after the lights went down. Got a plec too. 73mm.

I wandered home. I really ought to get my Hiwatt fixed.




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