Pocket Rocket is my Blur

Went to see Graham Coxon's Power Acoustic Ensemble last night at the Barbican. Sounds pretentious doesn't it? Well, it wasn't that bad, actually. Coxon is too modest, shy and self-conscious to be pretentious. I see the irony once the show begins.

The wife got the tickets. It's not the sort of gig that I would have bought tickets for. I'm not a big pop-rock peer-envy, and some grumpy contrariness associated with this indifference, 'cos of course I'd kill for the opportunity to put on a show like this; to be able to call up Robyn Hitchcock and ask him to play second guitar for me. It would have been nice to have made a contribution too, wouldn't it? I am green with envy. It's less obvious when the lights go down.

Despite being a seated gig, it was pretty good. My wife does know me. Actually, standing through it would have been too much. It's hard enough standing for two hours at a rock gig, these days. So I had a beer and sporadically drifted off into musical daydreams. Which is the way I most enjoy gigs. They are still a chance to dream.

I've not been inspired to listen to Graham Coxon's solo stuff up to now. I saw his band in Finsbury Park a few years back and wasn't that impressed, so I have turned a blind eye ever since. But he's clearly been practicing (How patronising does that sound? - Ed). I wish I could pick like that. He plays a mean folk guitar these days. His voice lacks character and dynamics, but he writes and arranges well. The influences of Bowie and Syd Barret are obvious, and I can hear a little Julian Cope and some Nick Drake in tonight's material. I'm sure his influences are much more purist-folk than these - the programme confirms this - but this is my uninitiated opinion. I'm only strong on bastardisations of traditional forms of music. I don't do the real thing. Call me a philistine, because it'd probably be fair.

I was inspired though. I'd love to get a 'unit' (as Dove calls it) like this together. It's very English. A bit quirky. A bit discordant. Pocket Rocket isn't doing enough to keep me sated. Logistically, financially Pocket Rocket can only do so much.

That makes Pocket Rocket, my Blur. I said the gig was a chance to dream, didn't I?

I could start by dusting down and re-programming The Phantom Limb. If it's gonna be a sedentary gig, I don't need a real drummer. Not to begin with anyway. I could start performing and pick up musicians as I go, just as I did with Pocket Rocket, in the early days.