I saw Billy Bragg last night at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. Anyone who has seen him live knows that half the show is Billy telling stories and going on poplitical rants between the songs. A couple of his stories were about his time spent doing shows and taking in shows at the recent South By South-West Convention/Festival. Being with his usual soundman Grant Showbiz(former Smiths soundman) he said they saw some incredible bands and I'm paraphrasing now...."We saw Morrissey or, I should say, we saw his chin....He has this massive chin and people seem to come out to see his chin like a big parade float going past". Later on he added...."Morrissey was great - he opened with "First of the Gang to Die" and his fans are going crazy and then he played "Still Ill" and Grant and I are going crazy and Morrissey's fans were kind of standing around saying "What's that?" He finished with "How Soon is Now" which made me feel 17 again it really took me back to the late 80's - which is odd because I was in my late 20's then"

If you are a BB fan at all I recommend seeing him on this tour as he is without accompaniment and playing mostly early stuff.