Billy Bragg Resonates at Fonda Theatre – 40th Anniversary Tour

The third installment of my somewhat inadvertent “The Sun Never Seems to Set on the British Music Empire Tour”

Billy Bragg burst onto the scene by leveraging the DIY ethic of the English punk movement, and in the early 1980’s armed with only a guitar he held audiences in the palm of his hands. Forty years after his first visit to America, Bragg took a humble but deserved victory lap.

In Los Angeles the other night he spoke fondly of his first visit to Los Angeles (I accompanied him for a day’s worth of that trip, it revolved around a record store appearance).

Billy Bragg lands in Los Angeles at Chateau Marmont (Sunset Blvd) and Texas Records (Santa Monica), August 1984 (photos by Brad Auerbach)

At the Fonda Theatre he joked that this time he brought a yoga mat to the stage to better fit in, and assured us that although he’d play a long set he’d finish in time for us to “get the last Tube home.” It is far more likely that more folks in the crowd had done yoga that day than engaged with public transport, which was exactly the point of Bragg’s observant banter.

Billy Bragg at Fonda Theatre (photos by Greg Bartlett)

Bragg switched back and forth between electric and acoustic guitar, with occasional visits by JJ Stoney on keyboards to add some additional sonic color.

Anyone in attendance was undoubtedly familiar with Bragg’s solid left political stance, and he did not disappoint. He took aim at the leadership of Florida, which “spends more time checking people’s genitals and permanently checking out books than dealing with sunny day floods.” As to the latter, it turns out the warming sea raises the water table, and neighborhoods enjoy a gushing up of water from the sewers with no inclement weather in sight.

It was Bragg who took notice of what several of us were in the middle of: the rare harmonic convergence of several British musicians touring up and down the coast: Paul Weller, Johnny Marr and Bragg. He pointed out when any of those artists first appeared stateside, it was mostly to an audience of 1990s NME readers. Bragg told a funny story about all three Brits improbably appearing a week earlier on the same night in Vancouver. He then did a respectful version of The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment” at half speed, which was a big hit two nights earlier when Weller assayed his version in San Diego.

Bragg concluded his version with the apposite self-observation “Once a busker, always a busker.”

A song early in Bragg’s setlist in Los Angeles set the stage for the music to follow. “The World Turned Upside Down” is referenced in the Broadway musical Hamilton, and maintains its relevancy across the ages. The same can be said for “Freedom Doesn’t Come for Free.” Bragg pointed out that free speech is not the bedrock of democracy, accountability is. A balance of the two is needed.

Throughout the evening Bragg balanced his strident political message with heartfelt songs from the heart; “Levi Stubbs’ Tears” and “The Milkman of Human Kindness” were delivered with passion.

He spoke about being honored to sing on the picket lines of workers who weren’t born when Bragg first wrote his protest songs, whether those striking in his homeland or the Starbucks baristas in (my hometown) Buffalo. That invariably led to a raucous version of “There is Power in The Union.”

Several other songs were likewise finished by the audience, Bragg easily prompted us to sing along to “A New England” and “Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.” The latter’s current version confirmed his earlier pronouncement (“I am a pun rocker”) when he updated the lyrics to include references to Elon Musk and merch available in the lobby.

Bragg’s was the most moving of the four nights on my self-programmed tour, perhaps due to the evening taking me back to first seeing Bragg in London circa 1982 and yes bopping around LA with him in 1984.

The Sun Never Seems to Set on the British Music Empire Tour: