Yesterday, Michael posted a review of Robert Plant’s secret London show on Wednesday. Heading back from holiday in France, I missed that one – luckily, it turns out, since Plant only played seven songs then, and the show I caught last night at the Forum stretched to 20-odd.
As part of our Great Lost Films feature in the current issue of UNCUT, I wrote a piece on the making of The Last Movie, Dennis Hopper's follow-up to Easy Rider. One of the people I spoke to was The Last Movie's screenwriter Stewart Stern. At one point during our interview, Stern mused dryly: "It was never quiet around Dennis."
Certainly, Dennis Hopper - who died today aged 74 – was too tempestuous a personality ever to be considered quiet, even by Hollywood's colourful standards.
“You’re a good-looking audience,” says Chrissie Hynde, before launching into “Back On The Chain Gang”. “Just what I’d expect. This is for your dad.”
It is perhaps interesting to note that a lot of Hynde’s between song banter this evening is predicated around mostly wry, self-deprecating references to her past. She dedicates “Kid”, for instance, to late band members Pete Farndon and Jimmy Honeyman-Scott, finishing with “Put the kettle on, we’re not far behind you.” It is, you might think, particularly apt then that The Pretenders choose to cover Dylan’s “Forever Young”.
Well, here we all are. The first rain of the day is just beginning to fall, just a gentle drizzle, so nothing to really complain about and certainly nothing like last night's epic cloudburst which made me fear that when I got here this afternoon I'd find Henham Park deep enough in water to float an ark.