Bernard Butler, chat @ the sea @ The Venue, Worthing, 2.12.21

My first gig (other than a David McAlmont-inflected show at Pizza Express this past May!) in this living with Covid era and I'm so glad I made it down to Worthing to see dear Bernard. The venue was a glorious old church called St Paul's. It was seated with movable chairs and I got front row, last seat on the right with a space empty next to me. Perfect! And most people wore masks when moving around. I was grateful.
This show was Bernard's first in 20+ years apparently. The pandemic has done unusal things to many of us and it gave Bernard time to assess what he's doing in life. And so he rerecorded the vocals to his debut solo album, 'People Move On'. And they sound fantastic! He acknowledges he's not known for his singing but I was truly delighted to hear how strong his voice sounded filling up the church.
Bernard is a total raconteur. It's the reason I love listening to his radio show, BB & The King. I love listening to his stories! He's 51, totally comfortable in his skin. He makes a good icon for living and aging well and with FUN (and good hair). I wish I'd recorded more of his chat but I have two bits. In this second bit he talks about how he loves the sea, fantasises about leaving London for the sea but the reality doesn't match. He wrote a new song about the sea and debuted it for us. We were the first ones to hear it! I'm annoyed with myself for not recording it. It had a refrain about Camber Sands. I hope to hear it again soon! And for it to be released.