Gig Memories: Jeff Buckley at Cambridge Junction in 1995
Jeff Buckley
Cambridge Junction, 22 June 1995
Back when I saw Jeff Buckley in June, 1995, hype was beginning to rapidly build around him: he was young and beautiful, the son of a cult legend, critically acclaimed and his album was just utterly, hauntingly beautiful. Even MTV had started to sometimes show his video for Grace (yes, this was back when MTV showed videos) and I was just desperate to see him live having missed the last time he played London, for some weird reason, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. So, despite living in London, when he announced a pre-Glastonbury date at the Cambridge Junction, I resolved to get there somehow and persuaded my brother to drive me there. I’m really glad I was so enthusiastic about seeing him because it turned out that, along with the Glastonbury appearance, these were Jeff’s last ever shows in the UK.
When Jeff walked on stage he looked tired, frail and worse for wear not this perfect, fine boned rock god portrayed in magazines. He was literally rubbing his eyes, all shabby in baggy, wrinkled clothes and immediately apologised to the crowd: “I’ve got bad jetlag” he told us almost yawning. Not that it showed when he picked up his guitar and began strumming the opening of So Real, the voice, that spectacular soaring, unique voice of his, was not jetlagged at all, it was absolutely pitch perfect and beautiful, even when screaming the last notes of Grace.
Songs like Lover, You Should Have Come Over and Dream Brother were almost hymn-like but the middle of the show came as a pleasant surprise, with a hard rocking version of Eternal Life and a grungy take on MC5’s classic punk tune Kick Out The Jams, proving his shows weren’t all just angelic vocals and dreamy, cascading guitars.
Because Grace was his only album at the time the majority of the show was just songs
from that but I remember being particularly excited because he played two new songs that have since been released on various live albums, That’s All I Ask (which I was later shocked to learn was a Nina Simone cover, it was so like his material on Grace) and the equally gorgeous What Will You Say. I remember after this song I timidly asked Jeff for his guitar pick (amusingly it was pretty much all girls at the front including me). “But I’ve only got one” he said sadly. Seeing the disappointment, he searched through the pockets on his shirt and dug through the pockets in his jeans and discovered another and happily gave up the one he was using. It was a pretty sweet moment.
The show ended on an absolutely breathtaking version of Hallelujah and afterwards we literally walked back to the car in silence. When we looked at each other we just laughed, we were so blown away we couldn’t even speak and we listened to Grace the whole way home. It’s easily one of the best shows I’ve ever been to and I feel so lucky to not only to have seen Jeff live but to have experienced him up close in such a small venue, definitely smaller than if I had managed to catch in him London earlier that year.
At the show, since it was in the days before the internet took over everything, I also signed up to Jeff Buckley's mailing list and received some great things through the post (which is always nicer than email) for a couple of years after including postcards, newsletters and a poster of the picture above.
When Jeff walked on stage he looked tired, frail and worse for wear not this perfect, fine boned rock god portrayed in magazines. He was literally rubbing his eyes, all shabby in baggy, wrinkled clothes and immediately apologised to the crowd: “I’ve got bad jetlag” he told us almost yawning. Not that it showed when he picked up his guitar and began strumming the opening of So Real, the voice, that spectacular soaring, unique voice of his, was not jetlagged at all, it was absolutely pitch perfect and beautiful, even when screaming the last notes of Grace.
Songs like Lover, You Should Have Come Over and Dream Brother were almost hymn-like but the middle of the show came as a pleasant surprise, with a hard rocking version of Eternal Life and a grungy take on MC5’s classic punk tune Kick Out The Jams, proving his shows weren’t all just angelic vocals and dreamy, cascading guitars.
Because Grace was his only album at the time the majority of the show was just songs
from that but I remember being particularly excited because he played two new songs that have since been released on various live albums, That’s All I Ask (which I was later shocked to learn was a Nina Simone cover, it was so like his material on Grace) and the equally gorgeous What Will You Say. I remember after this song I timidly asked Jeff for his guitar pick (amusingly it was pretty much all girls at the front including me). “But I’ve only got one” he said sadly. Seeing the disappointment, he searched through the pockets on his shirt and dug through the pockets in his jeans and discovered another and happily gave up the one he was using. It was a pretty sweet moment.The show ended on an absolutely breathtaking version of Hallelujah and afterwards we literally walked back to the car in silence. When we looked at each other we just laughed, we were so blown away we couldn’t even speak and we listened to Grace the whole way home. It’s easily one of the best shows I’ve ever been to and I feel so lucky to not only to have seen Jeff live but to have experienced him up close in such a small venue, definitely smaller than if I had managed to catch in him London earlier that year.
At the show, since it was in the days before the internet took over everything, I also signed up to Jeff Buckley's mailing list and received some great things through the post (which is always nicer than email) for a couple of years after including postcards, newsletters and a poster of the picture above.
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