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This Just In: Billy Bragg Loves Us
Billy Bragg loves Toronto, that is- not Torontoist. (Although he might love Torontoist as well.)
Last night’s show by Bragg at the Danforth Music Hall was a mighty feat by the English singer-songwriter. The sold-out show opened its doors at 7pm, and was met by fans who had started lining up in the rain more than hour before. The opening act, Seth Lakeman, didn’t take the stage until 8pm when the restless audience started calling for someone to take the stage. It wasn’t until after 9 o’clock that Bragg finally made his entrance. But all that ceased to matter when the singer quickly launched into two songs, accompanied only by his electric guitar.
And then he stopped to sip his tea and chat.
“You’ve already had a sniff of the Bragg this year, but you wanted another,” he quipped, referencing his show in Toronto last March. Later he explained the frequent visits here: “As a touring party, we think of Toronto as one of our homebases in North America. We have family here.”
In between old favourites like “Greetings To The New Brunette”, Bragg frequently went off into anecdotes about his stops in Ottawa and Montreal, while also leaving room to express his more political views. In fact, his concert style wasn’t that different from the story he told of Woody Guthrie performing Carnegie Hall and only three songs over the course of an hour. After championing YouTube for its democratic approach to content and trumping MTV, Bragg would stop to play newer songs like “Bush War Blues”.
The main set earned Bragg a standing ovation, as did the first encore, and then the final encore too. After bringing a show to an end with a sing-along rendition of “New England”, Bragg put his arms out like an airplane and jogged off the stage. And the audience, caught in the rain many hours before, was now clearly content to have joined him on his ride.
Photos and setlist obtainment by Cal MacLean.