Down home and down here

A few days back from a second gig from Richmond Fontaine at the Railway in Winchester. The first was last September - we'd soaked up the Post to Wire album after it was willingly foisted on us by Uncut magazine. The concert was memorable for its intimacy (we were pretty much on the low stage with Willy and Co), and a great performance. I'd love to say that there were many converts to the Richmonds that night, but the venue is so small that there weren't that many people there, albeit it was packed.

A repeat experience July 14, with some new material from The Fitzgerald in a warm up to the Guildford festival. I stood in exactly the same place - could have picked up Willy's guitar pick and handed it back to him if he dropped it. Another great gig, with a storming start, a slightly off middle and a brilliant end which overran by some half hour as the band were summoned back to the stage after thinking it was all over. I am now almost reluctant to see Richmond Fontaine in a bigger venue, for fear of losing the feeling that they were playing to some mates in someone's front room.

These are part of a series of gigs organised under the SXSC banner. Oliver and Richard indulge their own concert-going passions by organising their own gigs, the theme being somewhat alt-country. They seem to be regularly selling out the back room at The Railway. Oliver exhorts people to "keep telling people about our shows", but I'm not going to, as I want to make sure I can get a ticket.