A few months back, when still in the dregs of fall, a friend of mine invited me to a "concert" on a Wednesday at 9 p.m. I agreed to go and picked him up. As we were leaving, he instructed me to go to Fiddlers, an Irish-themed pub in South Bend, Ind. I, of course, assumed the concert was there but when we arrived he further instructed me to drive up the parking garage across the street. As we ever so slowly wound our way up to the top of the parking garage, I silently wondered to myself "What the hell am I doing?" But when we finally made it to the top, I saw a smattering of people sitting in the middle.
So in the dark we made our way over to them, and here is where it gets sort of odd if it wasn't odd enough already. When I introduced myself to the lone artist, Phil, he turned out to be British. I picked out another one or two similar accents in the crowd as well. So there I was in the second lamest state in the entirety of the Midwest, on the top of a parking garage at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday about to listen to some British bro play guitar. By this point I was bursting with excitement, and when he started playing, I grew ecstatic. The looming towers around us made it seem as though the whole world was peering in trying to catch a glimpse, but the stars only made it bright enough for us to see. He wasn't just brandishing a normal Yamaha 750d Sunburst, with those fast hands he was holding up the wild youth around him with a vast array of sharp chords and catchy lyrics.
All of music Phil's music is patently original, it doesn't lend much to folk that a lot of singer-songwriter music coming out of the UK spews nowadays. It still has enough feeling of nostalgia to rip your heart out and be more than novelty. His guitar playing is far above par. He does do that tapping thing which some may view as a gimmick, but I love when I see people playing in small venues and on the street. His songs are mostly about women and heartbreak, so they are all wildly relatable. His album is on iTunes and he does have a YouTube channel.
Of the whole collection, the one song that really struck me was his song "America." It's not really about America, but a girl from the states. It strikes me because the poor guy was forced to go back to England because of our damnably tight immigration laws. So the only two opportunities I had to see him play live were the last opportunities I had to see him play live.
Good luck in England, Phil. I'm sure you will blow up over there.
