Right then, lets get this over with. The Levellers: crusties, smelly hippies, dog on a rope, special brew, dreadlocks and campfires. Now, lets see if we can get through this gig without mentioning these things again!
Fans of anarcho- punk-folk group The Levellers (ah, the pigeon hole: a wonderful thing) have taken over Shepherd's Bush Empire, and it feels great. There is a real party atmosphere here tonight. There are people dancing, jumping around, singing and shouting at the top of their voices (and this isn't a shy crowd, so that's pretty loud). The band themselves seem to soak this up and are on fire.
Over the years their songs have documented and soundtracked these people's lives with amazing poignancy and clarity. It may not be the lives of the majority of society, but of a very significant undercurrent of people, perhaps seeking some kind of alternative way of existing.
The success of 'What A Beautiful Day' and 'Hope Street', which get celebratory cheers tonight, shows they are more than capable of selling a bucket load and staying true to their roots.
This is an audience filled with dedicated and long-time fans though, so the biggest cheers are reserved for earlier work such as the joyous 'Carry Me' and the idealistic 'Boatman'.
It's important to remember The Levellers meant as much to the pissed-off children of Thatcher's Britain back in 1991 when they released their excellent 'Levelling The Land' album, as Limp Bizkit do to 14 year olds today. Sure, there's lots of righteous fists being punched in the air tonight, but it's not without good reason.
Anger-fuelled anthems such as 'The Game' ("I don't believe in heaven, I don't believe in hell, I don't believe what I'm seeing, this is no game can't you tell") and 'The Liberty Song' ("This means nothing to me, the way we were is the way that I want to be") really mean something, and since when was that a bad thing?
As The Levellers themselves say in 'The Road', "The words that you heard when you were young will always stay: the one's that always stay make the world go away".
