John Osbourne
John Osbourne's uncanny ability to draw on universal truths by discussing the particular is the key to all his work, and has never been better than in this outing. What might seem like a wistful nostalgia for times past is underscored by a commentary on the changes that happen in all our lives, as the person we once were becomes as strange to us as the people we once knew
Norwich Arts Centre
I was expecting the evening at the Arts Centre to start with Jess Morgan, his advertised support act. However, in what I’m guessing might have been a last minute decision, John Osbourne started the show with a selection of poems about Norwich. This sneak preview before their official outing at Latitude festival was perhaps him seeing how they fared. As he quipped, what better place to showcase his affection for the city than a festival in Suffolk. As evidenced by the scribbles in the notebook he showed us, one was only finished hours before, though you wouldn’t have guessed it, and all them were love letters to the city he has made his home. They were also - as is so often the case with Osbourne's work, whether name checking The Plough, or Norwich Arts Centre or even the local tip - as much about people as the place they live in. Jess Morgan did then appear, offering up an elfin vocal that belied the sharp, and occasionally acerbic, wit of her songs. Opening with The Longest Arm off of her album Edison Gloriette, she kicked off with some fine harmonica playing, after which she was content to accompany herself with acoustic guitar. For me, Hymn in the Morning and Down in Flames were the stand out songs of the set, notwithstanding her cheeky cover of Blur’s To The End.
John Osbourne has an uncanny ability to explore wider truths while seemingly mining the most arcane of subjects. Whether it’s the tape recorder in his car, the Radio Times or – most famously – John Peel’s shed, what he’s really talking about is life, in all its small pleasures and frustrating vicissitudes. The New Blur Album was no exception. I was surprised to learn this was not a new piece of work but a reworked performance originally broadcast on radio seven years ago. I'm a huge fan of Osbourne's and had flattered myself that I'd seen or at least heard everything he's done, so my immediate reaction was mild irritation this had previously passed me by, followed by the obvious question - what else have I missed? Whatever undiscovered treasures are out there, this measured up favourably with his most recent work, so in hindsight I'm pleased to have seen it live, presented in his usual taciturn manner. Osbourne on stage always strikes me as would a supply teacher, confronted with a notoriously difficult class.
Nothing has gone wrong let, but he has the look of a man who is worried it might. This could all be part of his act, of course. For that matter, I don’t know how much of this story, or any of his stories, are true. They feel intimate and authentic and I assume we're finding out about John's formative years. I can only say that if it is all artifice it’s impressively done and I'd rather not know.
Notionally this was an exploration of his reaction to each new Blur Album as it came out, and came complete with excerpts from those albums, as well as clips from contemporary interviews broadcast at the time. However, this was a typically clever device, used to map out changes in his life, most notably his shifting relationships with friends, be that his not quite girlfriend or his wayward pal. Unless you were a wayward pal, we all had a friend that seemed more charismatic and better looking, slip sliding through life with an ease one could only dream of. My unequal friend was Andrew Debenham and the scars never did completely heal. And who hasn't had a not quite girlfriend or boyfriend, thinking it best we just stay friends while your heart aches for more. Unless of course you were that friend. Osbourne's uncanny ability to draw on universal truths by discussing the particular is the key to all his work, and has never been better than in this outing. What might seem like a wistful nostalgia for times past is underscored by a commentary on the changes that happen in all our lives, as the person we once were becomes as strange to us as the people we once knew.
