A Mike Richardson Review: Despite Being Sick, Billy Bragg Does Not Disappoint 

Billy Bragg packed Strom with a nice blend of his musical past.  Not a perfect show due to sickness, he more than made up for it with his commentary.

Sometimes the venue ruins the show.  The Billy Bragg show last night wasn’t his best in Munich, but was certainly good despite him having a bad cold and the venue being entirely unsuitable for a crowd of its size.

The show was at the newly re-opened Strom, which is a fairly small place that can be great for a small crowd.  Last night, however, they opened up a back room making for one very long hall where 85% of the audience had no chance of seeing the band’s performance.  

The opening act was an Australian guy named Kim Churchill.  He sounded like a James Blunt fan gone wrong, but seemed to be popular with a hand full of teen girls who decided to leave after three songs of Billy Bragg.  His only break between songs was to explain how he met Billy Bragg while he was on tour in Canada and Billy was kind enough to let him hitch a ride.  I’ll try to forget his performance.

Billy was sick.  That meant that he talked even more than he normally does, which is quite a lot.  His voice is never pitch perfect, however, and as he stated near the beginning of his set, no ones goes to his shows to hear him sing.  His set was part stand up comedy, part political activist, and part musical genius.  For those who missed him, I strongly suggest you check out Dave Hause on November 28th.

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