Timing...Is Everything - Barefit in Babylon

I was reading through this month's Mojo magazine this morning when I saw an advert for Fifestock, an event I was previously oblivious to. I saw that both John Martyn and Jackie Leven were both advertised as playing and I thought "Ooh, what a line-up". Sadly, as I posted earlier today, John Martyn is sadly no longer with us. Here's John doing "May You Never" on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973:



Fifestock takes place at the Inn at Lathones near St.Andrews and it seems that because the venue only holds about 50 punters the gigs have been priced accordingly i.e. they're expensive. The John Martyn gigs were listed at £75!! He was good, nay great, I grant you, but £75, that's daylight robbery. John was scheduled to play three dates (2-4 March) with Jackie Leven following on the 5th. Jackie's appearance is a relatively reasonable £15. Regular readers will know that I didn't go and see Jackie the last time he played at Inn at Lathones because they were wanting £16 and after I had paid £8 to see him in Edinburgh and £12 in Perth I felt that the extra increase was too much. Christmas was just around the corner and as much as I enjoy Jackie live I just couldn't justify the expense. Sometimes you have to know where to draw the line. (By the way, I e-mailed Jackie's agent, the one listed on his website, to ask why the high price but I'm still awaiting a response). I know it's rather churlish to be moaning about ticket prices on the day a legend has passed away but it needed saying and timing was never one of my strengths. End of sadness-tinged rant.

Fifestock runs from 17 February until 10 March.