Loitered Lens: Billy Bragg and Sean McGowan

Activist singer-songwriters go head-to-head at Islington's Assembly Hall

13/12/2017 Carl Byron Batson Sound

One’s a blazing new hope for scathing, politically aware activist folk-rock, bringing a voice of conscious resistance to an audience numbed by the full-frontal assault of serial Tory governments, late-stage capitalism, fully-matured consumerism and economic crisis.

The other is a nasal windbag gassing out dated leftie rhetoric and free-data liberalism from the vantage point of several decades of healthy PRS statements and a fanbase gathered through countless years of label support and pre-Napster promo budget. But who, nevertheless, reckons today’s musicians whine too much about filesharing.

Your mission is to guess which one’s which.

Billy Bragg at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Sean McGowan at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Billy Bragg at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Sean McGowan at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Billy Bragg at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Sean McGowan at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Sean McGowan at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Sean McGowan at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Billy Bragg at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017
Billy Bragg at Islington Assembly Hall, 2017

Photos by Carl Byron Batson. Not to be reproduced without express prior permission.

Full gig review here.

Carl Byron Batson
About Carl Byron Batson 302 Articles
Photographer, published poet, former party animal, body builder, grave robber to the stars and renowned chainsaw juggler, Carl can often be spotted on his Harley Davidson pretending to be in Terminator 2. He is also frequently seen in the press pits of old London town, camera in hand, avoiding being hit by bottles of wee and crippling his opposition with secret Kung Fu moves.
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