Billy Bragg
10/14/96
Gino Club
Stockholm, Sweden

Levi Stubbs’ Tears
From Red To Blue
The Space Race Is Over
Accident Waiting To Happen
Greetings To The New Brunette
The Saturday Boy
Upfield
Sexuality
Sugardaddy
Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
A New England (Father’s Version)

Billy Bragg is one of my heroes. He’s a punk rock folk singer. He’s funny and brilliant and simply remarkable. He’s also very political which can be a turn off. He’s really quite liberal, which can be an even bigger turn off. I often agree with him, but even when I don’t I find myself nodding my head anyways because he presents his point of view, whether in song or banter, in such a way to make me want to believe. There is none of the dark cynicism that you find on the television or radio these days, but simply an argument intelligently delivered with a mountain of kindness and a pound of humor.

His songs aren’t bad either.

This is one of my favorite shows of his that I own. I like it so much that I downloaded it again since I can’t find my original disk. It is from a radio show in Sweden, and the sound is excellent. It is just him and his electric guitar, but it’s quite delightful. He cracks me up throughout talking politics and the hunting season, and whatever else crosses his mind. Its worth it just for the reworking of his classic song, “New England” with lyrics changed due to multiple changes in his life since he wrote it.