It was 21 years ago this month that I attended my first gig: Stryper at Hammersmith Odeon. To celebrate, or perhaps by complete coincidence, I was back there last night. Of course, the Odeon is now the Apollo and I’m no longer a head-banging 17-year-old. As Willie Nelson sang, funny how time slips away.
Willie – for it was his show I saw last night – is 75 years old and appeared to be in rude health. Backed by his regular band, he did 100 minutes that seemed like 50, rattling off classics from every decade of his career, many of which he imbued with his trademarked jazzy acoustic guitar licks and ahead-of-the-beat vocal phrasing (something that, having heard his studio records, can admittedly seem odd until you settle into the style).
