Alejandro Escovedo

Wednesday 5th April. Bush Hall, London. Alejandro Escovedo. It’s been fifteen years since I last saw Alejandro Escovedo at the Borderline way back in 02. Not a regular visitor to these shores we weren’t going to miss this opportunity to see him again especially with a full band. Of the band he only met this fine bunch of Italian musicians a few weeks ago and they are accompanying him throughout his extensive European tour.

Whilst ostensibly touring in support of his fine current album ‘Burn Something Beautiful’ the set is drawn from across his extensive back catalogue. It’s a good mix up of rock, punk and acoustic moments with Escovedo effortlessly switching between. Just don’t call it Americana. Whilst he eschews the label Americana to categorise his style of music over the past twenty years I still think it fits.

What he does bring are his roots of punk to the proceedings and when the band rock they really rock and the talented Antonio Gramentieri from the support band Don Antonio ably provides the licks to Escovedo’s rhythm.

There a number of influences on display tonight especially from these isles with the likes of T Rex and even an appearance of John Perry from the Only Ones during the encore. Consider the band have been together less than a month the sound is tight and they don’t miss a beat.

On a night of many highlights stand outs for me were the rockin ‘Castanets’ and I had a soft spot for ‘Sally was a Cop’ since it came out.

Again Bush Hall delivers with a great concert and it really is the best venue of its size in London. A brilliant night of music and let’s hope Mr E doesn’t leave it so long till he returns to these shores. (Acoustic tent at Glastonbury please).

Without wanting to categorise keep on folk, country, Americana, punk rockin’ y’all.

Coming from a family of musicians, it’s easy to be overshadowed by another family member, but Alejandro Escovedo broke free of this trap at a young age when he made a break into the singer/songwriter scene. Starting out as a member in a band, Escovedo has had extensive experience performing with other musicians, which was evident in his performance with the way that he interacted with his own band onstage.
He opened the show with the track Sally Was a Cop, which as a slow track, got everyone moving to the front of the auditorium to sing along and wave their arms in the air in appreciation of the music. After the song he stopped to introduce himself and the band and had a bit of a chat with the audience. He mentioned his collaborations with Ryan Adams, which had everyone cheering, and he even played Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight for everyone.
Seeing him play his acoustic solo set was wonderful as his vocal and instrumental talents were equally balanced, and it was great for us as an audience to really appreciate the skill involved in his musicianship. His backing vocalists, guitarists, and drummer were also phenomenal musicians, and the way that they created an additional depth to Escovedo’s sound was a wonderful touch to the performance.

In my 65 year young life , I have seen more live performances Of Alejandro then any other band.
Each show offered something different . Each show was a memorable event, He has such a diversified back round.
He manages to surround himself with amazing musicians.
He is a poet,a performer,a prolific song writer,a director and a great man. Check out some interviews and then join me in west Chester this April.