{"id":781,"date":"2017-08-19T10:51:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-19T09:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mekons.de\/news\/?p=781"},"modified":"2017-08-19T10:53:33","modified_gmt":"2017-08-19T09:53:33","slug":"i-was-at-mekonville-where-were-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mekons.de\/news\/?p=781","title":{"rendered":"I was at Mekonville. Where were you?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When The Mekons first emerged as a young, brash, ragtag, loose-knit art-school punk-rock band in Leeds, U.K. in those golden late \u201970s, I bet nobody who heard or saw them \u2014\u00a0or even the band members themselves \u2014\u00a0ever envisioned that in 2017, hundreds of people from many nations would answer the band\u2019s call to \u201cdestroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late,\u201d and gather in rural England to celebrate the band\u2019s 40th anniversary at a three-day music festival. But that\u2019s what just happened. And I was there. Where were you?<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Mekonville festival took place from July 28 to July 30 in Suffolk, northeast of London. The bill\u00a0featured The Mekons \u2014 both the current musicians (a lineup that has been relatively stable since the mid-1980s) and the original 1977 crew \u2014 as well as various bands involving Mekons members (Jon Langford\u2019s Men of Gwent was a highlight), solo spots by Mekons Sally Timms and Rico Bell, as well as friends, family (4DGs, which is made up of\u00a0Mekons singer Tom Greenhalgh\u2019s young children), and assorted allies of the group.<\/p><\/div>\n

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About 90 percent of the people I know gave me blank stares when I told them I was going to England for a Mekons festival. That\u2019s not surprising. The group has never had a really big hit. They haven\u2019t even been on a major label in a quarter century or so. How many bands these days have eight members \u2014 including three or four lead singers \u2014 and feature fiddle, accordion, and oud? The Mekons sprang out of the punk world, but they went on to incorporate elements of folk and country music, reggae, and other sounds. Whether they are playing an original rocker, some mutated sea shanty, or a Hank Williams song, The Mekons don\u2019t sound much like anyone else.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The 2017 Mekons played a set on each day of the festival. Their magical Friday night performance spotlighted the band\u2019s (relatively) best-known songs like \u201cI Have Been to Heaven and Back,\u201d \u201cBeaten and Broken,\u201d \u201cMillionaire\u201d and, of course, their hard-driving battle cry, \u201cMemphis, Egypt\u201d (\u201cThe battles we fought were long and hard, just not to be consumed by rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u201d), which they played during all three of their sets. The band did a couple of newer songs the first night, including \u201cSimone on the Beach,\u201d sung by Timms, one of the more rocking songs from their latest album Existentialism<\/em> (for my money, the best Mekons album of this century so far), along with their latest single, a slow, dreamy \u201cHow Many Stars Are Out Tonight,\u201d which features Greenhalgh on lead vocals and his kids singing backup on the choruses. This set could have been marred by the sound problems, as the amps for some of the instruments went off several times. But the band just made a joke of it and plowed through like pros.<\/div>\n

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Saturday afternoon\u2019s performance, which took place on the festival\u2019s smaller second stage, had been billed as an acoustic set, but wasn\u2019t anything close to an \u201cunplugged\u201d show. As one band friend explained: \u201cThey just used smaller amps.\u201d With the exception of \u201cMemphis, Egypt\u201d there were no repeats from Friday\u2019s set list. The best songs here included Timms\u2019 signature \u201cGhosts of American Astronauts,\u201d \u201cThe Olde Trip to Jerusalem\u201d \u2014 one of the group\u2019s most intense latter-day rockers \u2014\u00a0\u201cSometimes I Feel Like Fletcher Christian,\u201d performed in a mariachi-influenced style, and the rowdy \u201cBig Zombie,\u201d in which Bell\u2019s accordion drives the almost Cajun-sounding tune. But the highest-energy number was a take-no-prisoners version of \u201cWhere Were You?\u201d in which The Mekons were joined on stage by their road manager, emcee, and sometimes singer Mitch Flacko.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Later that night on the main stage there was a punk set by the original 1977 Mekons. Langford (switching from guitar to drums) and Greenhalgh were joined by singers Andy Corrigan and Mark \u201cChalkie\u201d White, guitarist Kevin Lycett, and bassist Ros Allen (who had her back turned away from the audience during virtually the whole show). I knew this was going to be good, but I had no idea that these guys would be this good. They ripped through their early songs such as \u201c32 Weeks,\u201d \u201cNever Been in a Riot,\u201d and, once again, \u201cWhere Were You,\u201d this time with lead vocals by Chalkie and Langford pounding his drums as if he were auditioning for a spot with The Surfaris.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The grand finale Sunday afternoon started off with the current Mekons, but eventually they were joined on stage by the original Mekons and later by Bonnie Prince Billy, aka Will Oldham (a longtime devotee, who on Saturday night performed a solo set of songs written or inspired by the Mekons) for songs including \u201cCurse\u201d and \u201cBeaten and Broken.\u201d Following a couple of country covers (\u201cHelp Me Make It Through the Night\u201d and Hank Williams\u2019 \u201cLost Highway\u201d), Mekons past and present as well as other musicians who\u00a0had performed at the festival took to the stage for one final rousing, messy, ridiculous \u201cWhere Were You?\u201d with Mitch and Chalkie sharing lead vocals.<\/p><\/div>\n

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As a wise critic wrote just a couple of years ago, \u201cIt never fails to frustrate me that no matter how I\u2019ve tried to spread the word about this wonderful musical collective of visionaries, rebels, and oddballs \u2014 and how writers far more talented and influential than I have tried to do the same \u2014 The Mekons\u2019 audience never seems to rise beyond the level of small-but-rabid cult.\u201d Personally, I guzzled the spiked Kool-Aid served up by The Mekons years ago. And I took an even bigger gulp at the festival in Suffolk. I\u2019m proud to be a member of this crazed congregation. And it was a true joy to be a citizen of Mekonville.<\/p><\/div>\n

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