April was a fantastic month of music gigs with a load of good stuff passing through my locale. Nina Nastasia played a low-key intimate show, one that felt as though she is still finding her feet again as a live performer after a lengthy absence but nevertheless a welcome return. As the audience filed out I overheard one person say “well that was a barrel of laughs” but for me, I have no issue with an artist taking us to a dark place, especially if they have been to one themselves in real life; Nina really has and will probably carry the scars forever, an honest performer. Next, I saw the fortieth anniversary tour of Shonen Knife, playing selected nuggets from their whole career, this was a show where the smile superglued my face from start to finish. Twenty-four hours later it was Saturday night thrills with Half Man Half Biscuit, another band in for the long haul as a pleasingly boozy gig saw a massive eight hundred strong crowd singing along to classic refrains such as “who the fucking hell are Slipknot?”

Pokey Lafarge is such a class Americana act, vintage in style with a polished band, an old-time disposition and an endearing charm as he kicked off a UK visit. Much of his audience wear a similar Bugsy Malone type look making this a reciprocal experience although one was clearly from a whole other dimension when she shouted out “you should be on ‘X Factor’!” The blank look on Pokey’s face said it all, he is far too good for that. I went along to see Gaz Coombes who was fine although a large section of this audience left bemused by his ignoring the entire Supergrass catalogue. However, the main reason I went to see that show was the support act Lonelady whose one-woman loop-enhanced, electric guitar crunching performance was especially enjoyable. The following night I caught the primitive rollercoaster that is Bug Club again with a support act of equal if not higher stature in the Mock Tudors. I had not previously caught how much dry humor, both visually and lyrically, is part of their aesthetic. Now I see that they have risen in my estimation, even that spoken section on ‘Bin Day,’ which I originally thought killed the song, made a bit more sense in this light.

For mostly weekday night gigs it has to be noted that all these shows had decent size, often sellout crowds. It occurred to me this is the core audience who, like me, during the evening at home are likely to be listening to Marc Riley and Gideon Coe on BBC 6Music. It has been announced recently that these two shows, slots that for almost the entire 6Music history have been the backbone of weekday evening output on the station, are to be merged into a later time schedule to make way for a younger ‘new music’ show presented by Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant. If my social media feeds are anything to go by, this move has been met with massive opposition. I even signed a re-instatement petition that seemed to fly past the initial target of 10,000 signatures but then nothing more was heard and it seems both Marc and Gideon are building up to the end of their shows this month.

I have nothing against their replacements, I do not even know Deb Grant and I have had a quiet respect for the way Tom Ravenscroft has effectively picked up the baton laid down by his dad and run with it without ever appearing to use his family connection to further his career. But Marc Riley has been a serious champion of so many acts that resonate with the live music attending population. Not only that but he has a depth of knowledge from the past sixty years of music that opens the door to genuinely eclectic listening across the genres and eras. Look at all the live acts I have just seen and most will have been given a push by Riley this year, either playing their new releases, announcing the tour dates, inviting them into the studio for a live session and often all three. Same goes for Gideon, the BBC has a mouth-watering archive of live recordings and sessions which, in his hands, are kept relevant and alive with the curation of a connoisseur.

Obviously, we will all adapt, the BBC shunted John Peel about in a shockingly malicious way at times but he always ploughed on honoring his musical mission drive. I am sure Marc and Gideon will do the same and of course, we can all listen to them on iPlayer at a time of our choosing, but this is still a great shame, live broadcasting is important. The two of them are modest men, Riley especially so with his aggressive avoidance of anything approaching aggrandizement. The same thing happened to him and Mark Radcliffe in the past, for a ten-year period the pair were the best thing on Radio One, but you got the sense their humble, ordinary blokes having a go demeanor was flying below the radar of middle management. It must have been, or Radcliffe would never have got away with announcements like “that was Stardust with ‘Music Sounds Better With You’… debatable” or referring to a record as being by Mary J Bilge. Sadly, though then as is now, that kind of grounded music community pleasing presenting does not ring the bells of soulless middle management types, so when they want to justify their pay packet by forcing through change it is always the likes of Marc and Gideon who pay the price. As much as I understand any radio station thinking of the future this still feels like a misstep by 6Music. I am fifty-one and think I can reasonably hope for my music interest to endure for another two or three decades to come. I have heard Radio Two at 7pm and if they think they can shunt me in that direction they are mistaken. The saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” never felt more apt, I hope you enjoy my May playlist…