I obeyed and supplied my input to one of the most iconic songs of all time, with the legend that is Glen Matlock. Glen spotted me with my camera – “put the camera down” he said, or words to that effect “plenty of time for photos later”. Nicely done Glen, he had us eating out of the palm of his hand! Once the audience had the “percussion” going Glen started on the guitar – “We love our Queen” he shouted smiling from ear to ear, and then we all realised we were supplying the backing to God Save The Queen. Now I have seen other artists try to do this and fail, but not tonight everyone wanted to take part in this event. Glen asked the audience to provide the percussion for the next song and he demonstrated what he wanted us to do. We had some Philistines material, and a quick blast of Motorbikin’ at mention of Chris Spedding!
I am not going to spoil things with a full set list, you are going to have to find that out for yourself, sorry! I can say that Glen did some of his music, an unexpected Bowie track which had everyone joining in. And then there was the music… Glen Matlock: The Music… The stories that unfolded at times were hilarious and sometimes tinged with sadness for friends he has lost. To hear these live memoirs – you will have to go grab a ticket and hear them from the man himself. I am giving away no spoilers, I am not going to retell the many stories that Glen furnished us with, but the names of those he has worked with and knows included Bowie, Ronson, Spedding, Hucknall, Faces and of course the Sex Pistols. Picked up his acoustic guitar, plugged it in and greeted us with “evenin’ great to be here in this cracking venue, everyone alright?” and we were off. Glen took to the stage to a warm and appreciative welcome from the crowd. There were lots of people, sitting in the dark, sipping wine in the candlelight. Glen later referred to the bar in Cabaret and how the venue looked like that, and others he had been in whilst spending time in Germany, from the stage. It was a cold damp night in Brighton and stepping into a warm candle lit venue came as a welcome surprise. The event, and that is what I am going to call this as it was so much more than a gig in my view, took place in the Komedia in Brighton on 7 November. But dig a little deeper than that and you find The Rich Kids, Iggy Pop, The Damned, a reformed Faces, The Philistines and even more. Glen is an English musician and is probably best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. Glen Matlock has truly left his mark on the music industry throughout his career.
This was set to be a special evening, an evening with Glen Matlock – November 2016.