The Last time I was face to face with Daniel Johnston was not a happy event. It was at the meltdown festival curated by David Bowie in 2002. Johnston played with The Legendary Stardust Cowboy that night, in what I guess was Bowie’s shop window of American mavericks. Now The Ledge is kind of a wilful eccentric, dressed as a cowboy, playing a double bass made of a bucket with barbed wire for strings, running around the stage on an imaginary horse, and stripping down to his long underpants. This is entertainment, he enthralled the crowd with just under an hour of simple dumb fun, this is his moment, it’s unlikely he’ll ever get the chance to play the Royal Festival hall again, and he made the most of it. The other Mr Stardust chose well. Johnston is different, he played unaccompanied that night and that’s a very big stage to fill. He looked alone, uncomfortable, and nervous. He mumbled his words and barely looked up from his sheet music. I felt he was being exploited, stared at, and very discreetly, laughed at. It made me feel very uncomfortable.
So it is with some trepidation that I entered the Union Chapel tonight. It did not start well. Johnston’s first 2 songs were solo acoustic numbers. Whatever Daniels talents are they are not as a guitarist, he can barely manage the very simple chords he chooses and you can hear his hand hitting the fret board at irregular intervals. Then he sits down at the piano and it all changes. His piano playing isn’t flash but it is delicate, the melodies resonate against his vocal. The applause that has previously been polite suddenly seems more rapturous, the crowd seem genuinely touched rather than just curious.
Daniel is then joined by James Yorkston, whose solo support set had been very well received half and hour before, and Adem. The show really begins to pick up momentum, Daniel cracks a couple of jokes, and tells us about the joke he’s not allowed to tell us because he got in trouble for it in Manchester (He’d played at the comedy Store and was obviously trying to stay true to the spirit of the venue). The gentle guitar of Yorkston sits beautifully behind Daniels voice. I’m beginning to feel that with just his voice and his own strumming his emotions are too naked, and that’s what makes me feel uncomfortable. With the melodies that Yorkston and Adem are able to add, he seems too grown in confidence, or perhaps he’s just creating a space that I feel more comfortable with. He teases us about Caper the friendly Ghost, and whether he’ll play one of his most beloved tunes. He actually seems to be enjoying himself, water bottle in hand he leaves the stage for a brief rest and his joined by his full touring band(for this tour at least).
