Gadjo in Hove

Friday 2nd August, 2013
The Brunswick, Hove

Once again, my attempts to get Gadjo to come and play in our woodland amphitheatre didn't come together, but I did get a chance to catch their UK summer tour. This was after a day out with Vicky's daughter Claudia seeking out my grandfather and great-grandparents' grave in a village churchyard further down the Sussex coast (we found it!)

It was the start of Brighton's Gay Pride weekend that day, with rainbow flags hanging from many pubs, shops and residences. As we were walking down London Road en route to the gig, rainbow flags everywhere, a full, vivid rainbow (without any rain) appeared overhead! After chips on the beach we got to the Brunswick for a quick hello to Fraggle and caught the last couple of songs from the support act, a dance-oriented trio called RedTails.

Claudia's friend Rowan showed up in time for Gadjo, and the two of them were soon up the front dancing enthusiastically. The band were a six-piece on this occasion, Basque guitarist Xavi being back in Barcelona temporarily with his heavily pregnant girlfriend. It actually took me a few songs to work out what was different (there's so much going on to grab your attention that you don't exactly notice what's not there). There have been quite a few Gadjo gigs where I've been struggling to hear Xavi, but he's a major driving force in the sound. His absence mean that it was more of a horn-driven thing, which worked really well with the newish cumbia-influenced numbers. It felt like the rhythm wasn't quite as tight as usual (understandably — this was the first gig they've ever played without Xavi), but from the energy of the dancing bulk of the audience, that wasn't exactly a concern.
 

Quite a low-key Gadjo gig (for a Friday night in Brighton), but lots of fun regardless. We got to chat with Fraggle (once a lodger in Vicky's house in Exeter, and the reason I know V and her kids), as well as her bandmates Sam (Devonian clarinet and sax player) and Jerry (the Argentinian drummer) outside afterwards. And then walking through Brighton in a thunderstorm, getting soaked by monsoon-like rain...