An invite landed in my inbox, it was to an event hosted by none other than Jon Boden (ex Bellowhead) to watch him perform his new body of work “Afterglow” at a special acoustic, bonfire event. There was little information available and I was informed that should I accept the RSVP, I would be told where to go earlier in the day of the event. Come the day, an email arrived with directions to the venue, I made my way across London and exited the tube station, following the directions until I arrived at a very unassuming property in the East end of the city. I met a lovely young man at the gate who checked my name against the guest list and ushered me through to the rear garden where there was already a healthy gathering of people, who, like me, weren’t too sure exactly what to expect!

The place was amazing, it really took you away from the humdrum of the city, there was a beautiful wooden staged area with steps leading up to it, to the right, a wooden building that resembled a seaside ice cream cabin, I saw a traditional red English telephone box and other buildings dotted around the area, it was as if the RSC had come to the East end and set up a pop up amphitheatre! The piece de la resistance was the bar, clad in dark wood, it was like something out of a museum, from here, modern day craft ales and hot drinks were exchanged for money as more and more people filed in to this unique and spellbinding place.

Jon Boden took to the wooden stage area at 7:30pm and introduced the evening, he would be playing his new album ‘Afterglow’ in its entirety with a backing band made up of cello and violins with him on acoustic guitar and squeezebox.

‘Afterglow’ follows ‘Songs from the Floodplain’ as the second in a trilogy of post apocalyptic concept albums that thrusts the listener into a grimy, industrial urban chaos lit by oil drum fires with the distant sound of tribal rioting as two lovers fight to find each other amongst the madness.

I personally love the way that Boden introduces each song, sets the scene and describes in intricate detail, the song’s meaning, he also told us when there was a sing-a-long chorus and gave us a demo so we could acquaint ourselves with the melody and lyrics prior to joining in at the right moment!

His backing band sounded sublime, the haunting sound of their strings set against the 24 hour soundscape of London with its sirens, its airplanes and its usual chaotic ambience really took you away to another place. Boden’s voice and performance skills were as usual, on point and each song was rewarded with a voracious round of applause.

After the album concluded, Jon and his band declined to leave the stage only to reappear 2 minutes later so stayed where they were and lapped up encore requests until giving in. Jon explained that he used to front a band called Bellowhead and launched into a beautifully stripped back version of “Roll the Woodpile Down” which resulted in an amazing response from the garden full of people that had come to join him on this epic and intimate adventure.

“Afterglow” is available now and you catch him on his UK tour throughout April and May, full details available at jonboden.com