Heart of Noise

I still couldn’t quite believe that I’d be seeing Gil Scott-Heron, even after I bought tickets to his gig at the Southbank Centre. To be completely honest, I wasn’t even sure he was still alive when the word came out that he was releasing a new album this year – the mellow, knowing I’m new here.  He was first introduced to me through the track, The Revolution will not be Televised, during a Music and Culture module on my undergraduate degree, and subsequently when I was studying the politics of hip-hop.

At the gig last week, the first in the UK for a decade, it was clear that most of the people there weren’t just along for the ride, but were believers in the cause. He’s been sampled now by everyone from Kanye West to Common which has arguably diluted his political message somewhat, depending on the way it’s been done. But there’s no denying the political force and influence behind his words and his music.

As Gil strolled on stage, looking slightly more frail than previous incarnations, everyone was on their feet, showing appreciation. But after about ten minutes of jokes and patter, he was heckled to play some music. There was a really tense atmosphere in the hall, which I thought was due to an afternoon of drinking in the sunshine. But just as he was starting the soulful Winter in America – just Gil and keys, unaccompanied – anti-Israeli protesters, scattered around the auditorium started shouting at him, asking why he was playing a concert in Tel Aviv. He wasn’t too impressed with the disturbance and retorted: ‘You travel 4,000 miles and still you encounter assholes’ before continuing. But for the next few songs, the protesters started up again just as he was finishing.

The hard-core fans were not impressed. A guy in front of me, who was there with his wife and two teenage children turned round and tried to punch the protester behind me. Two seats up, a woman protester was threatened by the guy in front – ‘I’m going to bite you f**king nose off if you don’t shut the f’’k up, c’’t’.

It turns out that Gil isn’t actually playing a concert in Tel Aviv. He didn’t engage with the protest at first, and most of those involved were pretty much forced to leave for fear of being beaten up. But after about half an hour, he emerged from back stage to say that he wouldn’t be playing the concert, without making explicitly clear whether that was because he supported the boycott of the Israeli government or not.

The whole outcry didn’t make for the best live gig. The aggression emanating from the crowd was quite frightening. I was also really disappointed that such a political figure and one of my own personal musical heros, didn’t consider the consequences of playing Tel Aviv. Until he told us otherwise, I spent much of the gig trying to analyse whose side of the mob I should be on.

There’s quite a revealing review on the Men’s Health website which criticizes the crowd for being too ‘know all’: “ha ha - you could almost smell the Humous, the Gardian teachers section and social workers wage slips! AWFUL AUDIENCE - far, far too know it all.” (the spelling mistake isn’t mine, by the way!) But I think it just gets across the angst which everyone, including this guy, was feeling for one reason and another.

Gil Scott-Heron was still amazing, and highlights included The Bottle, Is that Jazz and Pieces of a Man. There was a lot of chat in between tracks, making me think that he really wanted to engage and warm to the audience. But sadly, it was impossible to relax. At least I’ve got a whole backlog of recordings, records and videos to keep me entertained until the next time.