Kamasi Washington, Barrowlands, Glasgow, 6th April 2025
Started with a game of human pass-the-parcel, ended with a very enjoyable gig
I bought tickets for this gig ages ago but it was postponed due to illness. I saw Kamasi Washington 6 years ago (read about that here) but this time I went with Child1, who has been playing the saxophone for about five years and plays in a regional schools jazz band.
After the difficulties I had at the last gig (read all about that here) I decided to phone up the Barras and ask about their accessibility options. Actually I emailed but got no reply, so I phoned and spoke to a nice woman who promised to get me “a wee seat”.
When we arrived I followed her instructions and presented myself to the door staff
who passed me to a supervisor
who passed me to another colleague inside the venue
who passed me to a colleague at the back of the hall
who passed me to a colleague at the other side of the back of the hall
who told me the person I needed to speak to was busy, then remembered he had a list of names, checked I was on that list and showed us up to the accessible area where indeed there was a wee seat for myself and Child1.
The support was from Emma-Jean Thackeray whose name I recognised from plays on BBC6Music, but didn't really know much about. She was…ok. She played the guitar and trumpet well, but played along to backing tracks. I suspect she recorded all the parts herself, but still, I never like it when people do that. I'm not denying it's a skill in itself but I prefer to see a full band or at least a couple of mates up on stage providing backing.
Kamasi Washington came on to what looked like a full house of eager fans. After the first number he started to introduce his band which it turned out included his own father on soprano saxophone and flute. Papa Washington is a pretty formidable musician himself and was very watchable as he cooly gave it laldy on the jazz flute and added some nice harmony and texture to the pieces with his soprano sax. There was also a guy on trombone, a guy on bass - both upright and guitar, a singer who came adding vocals now and again, a guy on keyboards, 1 guy on drum kit and another on decks/electronics and miscellaneous percussion.
I hadn't really listened to his new record yet so it wasn't really sure what kind of set we would get. I remember saying last time that I enjoyed the solos but found the sections when the whole band came together were really powerful and moving. This time there seemed to be much more emphasis on the solos, which were great and they are clearly an extremely talented group of musicians. Each and every one was impressive, however I felt like that any solo could have belonged to any song because for me, there weren't enough times when everyone played together to give us the roots of the song from which the soloists could expand. Saying that, it was never boring, we were entertained for the entire two hours they were on stage.
Well, there was one point where the guy on decks was tasked with playing a track. Not one of their tunes, a song by someone else. So he did his DJ thing and played the song while everyone else on stage either left or stood and watched. I found it a bit weird but people in the front of the crowd seemed to enjoy it. I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom.
I'm glad I opted for the accessible area this time. Although sitting in a hard plastic school chair for three hours was a challenge in itself, it was vastly preferable to standing for all that time. We were well looked after in our little area, the staff regularly checked we were ok, brought us water and when I went to the bar they helped me back to my seat as I struggled up the wee steps with two very full pints of Diet Coke. This time I lasted the duration and was able to comfortably walk back to the car and drive home.
Child1 enjoyed it, she took more and better pictures than I did, although she has the advantage of being able to see her phone screen without needing reading glasses. I’m at the stage where I point and shoot and just have to hope for the best…
So a hugely enjoyable gig, hopefully Child1 can take some inspiration from it, I certainly did.