When my best mate called me with the offer of a free ticket to a James Morrison gig this week, I did what all bros should do: I said yes.
Fans of How I Met Your Mother will understand this eternally relevant maxim from the Bro Code set out by the show’s lothario Barney Stinson.
And when my pal found himself without a date to take to this questionable choice of concert, I did what I thought any good bro should do: I took pity on him, took in a deep breathe and said of course I’d ensure his £30 ticket didn’t go to waste.
I’ll level with you. I didn’t hold out high hopes for James Morrison’s show at the Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday evening.
The images which came to my mind were ones of being surrounded by mums who had dragged along their begrudging husbands in an evening of polite head bobbing and the occasional sing-a-long.
These images, of course, all came true but far from being dismayed at my faithful adherence of the Bro Code, I came out of the gig uplifted and thoroughly glad I’d gone. First off we had a cracking opening act in Rainy Boy Sleep, whose handy guitar work and distinctive voice set the tone for a night of top-draw musicianship. His stand out track was set finisher Ambulance. Definitely check this lad out.
Then when James Morrison came out to a chorus of screams of the slightly more mature kind, he positively owned the crowd, rather than being the wishy washy hey-thanks-for-coming mush monger I had expected him to be.
It just goes to show that a gig with a genuinely talented singer and band will always be worth watching. In this age of false celebrity, it was nice to see someone on stage with real songwriting pedigree rather than the flash-in-the-pan garbage we hear is going to be the next big thing on the radio every week.
It was easy to get wrapped up in the arm-swaying mood of tracks like In My Dreams, I Won’t Let You Go and Broken Strings. I am not ashamed to say I was a bona fide James Morrison fan by the time he rounded off the night with You Give Me Something before a huge encore finishing on Wonderful World.
And before anyone says Hammersmith Apollo is a mission to get to, the journey was easy. The high speed rail line to St Pancras from Gravesend got me to London in 23 minutes before a half hour trip along the Piccadilly line to Hammersmith. It cost £14.80 for the travelcard. Simples.
In summary, it was a night where I learnt two things. The first was that my friend is a secret James Morrison fan, no matter how much he said he had got the tickets to try and attract a date.
The second was that a bro, should indeed, always says yes to help out a fellow bro. No matter how lame saying yes might seem at first, you will always be rewarded with a cracking night out.
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