Roger McGuinn at Cadogan Hall

Roger McGuinn

Cadogan Hall, 15 October 2010

After last week seeing one of the original Byrds singing Eight Miles High in London, here I am exactly a week later seeing another of the original Byrds singing the exact same song. Last week it was of course David Crosby, together with his old pal Graham Nash, and this week I was lucky to see the bespectacled leader of The Byrds, Roger McGuinn himself.

Walking onto the stage of the small but grand Cadogan Hall, there's no doubt he looks pretty cool for a 69 year old man, wearing a black fedora and a leather waistcoat, in fact my first thought is that there is a McGuinn portrait getting old in some attic somewhere because he looks remarkably youthful for someone about to hit the big seven oh next year (in fact Graham Nash may have lost that crown to McGuinn now I've seen him). Sporting his famous red Rickenbacker guitar he launches into My Back Pages, one of the many Dylan songs that The Byrds made their own back in the 1960s. As he sits down and swaps his iconic guitar for an acoustic he tells us that he always opens his shows with that song. Unsurprisingly really because it sets the mood for the night perfectly: classic songs, jangly guitars and folk music set to "a Beatle beat" with McGuinn's famous quivering voice. You can't beat that combination really.

What I didn't expect was just how chatty McGuinn would be. I say chatty, but clearly most of his tales of the history of folk music and reminiscences, if not scripted, were at least said night after night at his shows. But it was still fascinating stuff particularly hearing the history of McGuinn and The Byrds told firsthand, from the story of his first guitar, his conversion to folk to meeting his band mates Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke. Most tales usually segued into a song whether it was a piece of classical music that inspired a guitar part (She Don't Care About Time) to an experience that inspired a song (Jolly Roger written about Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue). But there is also something funny about how McGuinn speaks, not in a bad way, but he comes across part happy space alien and part enthusiastic folk music teacher: you can see why Hillman et al found him odd because you can kind of feel his eccentricities through his rehearsed but sweet speeches. It also made me laugh just how much he grinned during songs (rather nice too) and how he emphasised certain jokes to make sure we got them, bless him.

It was such a treat too to hear him perform the Gene Clark-penned She Don't Care About Time, surely one of the most underrated Byrds' songs ever. And McGuinn didn't deprive us of classic Byrds songs, from I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better to Mr Spaceman to The Ballad Of Easy Rider. I really can't complain on that count (although it would have been nice to hear So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star, just to nitpick) and he even gave a couple of his older solo numbers too, the most exciting for me being the song Joni Mitchell gave him to record, Dreamland, which sounded phenomenal stripped down and acoustic. I always knew McGuinn was a fantastic guitar-player but seeing him play acoustic really showcased this fact (him throwing in little flourishes of classic tunes and folk techniques certainly helped too). He also explained that his beautiful Martin guitar wasn't any ordinary acoustic, it had been specially made for him with an extra string - a seven-string guitar! - that gave him the sound of a 12-string but the string-bending benefits of a six-string. Pretty cool indeed.

There were also plenty of old folk numbers done in that distinctive McGuinn style, with Roger talking about the history of some of these styles (his new CD for instance is an album of sea shanties) but I have to say, although he clearly has great love and knowledge of folk which was a pleasure to hear, his eyes really lit up when he was talking about his days in The Byrds. He has said they'll never reunite (despite pleads from Crosby to do so) and really, although part of me would love to see it, he's right not to do it. It wouldn't really be a real reunion anyway with Gene and Michael gone and after seeing him tonight I have to say Roger McGuinn is doing a more than fine job keeping their songs and legacy alive on his own.