Carnaby Street re-visited

The last time I was in Carnaby Street was 1968, when I bought a pair of green, woolen, hipster, flared trousers from Lord John, and some psychedelic posters of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. I remember it being more like a street-market, with music blaring from the shops and stalls. You can get an idea of what it was like from videos on You Tube. This was the era of hippies, mods and rockers, and the tail end of Beatle-mania when they had the Apple Studios just down the road.

Now the street is celebrating its 50th year as a hip area to buy clothes, but I'm afraid it just looked prosperous and dull to me. Most of the shops sell clothes, accessories or shoes and most are familiar high street names. There are also the usual coffee shops, but a few good pubs as well.

On a Sunday afternoon the street was packed with tourists, just like every other day. I heard most European languages and Japanese; and some English too. I spoke to a few people about the old days and why there is no music there now; not even buskers. The answer seems to be that Brick Lane is now the place for all that and Covent Garden is just round the corner. At night, Camden Town seems to be the place for bands, with a host of venues every night.

Of course, that's what happens with urban renewal generally, and especially in London. The trendy people move into a relatively low cost area, push up property values and then move on. I remember that Punk had it's fashion HQ in Kensington Market which is nothing now. I rather doubt that expensive Carnaby Street can steal the limelight back. There's little insentive anyway, the bigger stores are still banking a lot of cash, but it's hard to see how the smaller boutiques break even.

After all this time, my reason to return to the street was that my son Nick was due to play a gig to promote his new album at the Material Gallery. He was supposed to start at 3 pm but, by 3.30 I had seen only three people enter the shop and Nick's band was still circling Oxford Street trying to park. In the end, they parked miles away and lugged the gear across town.

Eventually about a dozen loyal fans united, exactly an hour late and the band played a pretty spotless set for us. They did look a bit tired though.

This appearance marks the half-way spot in an exhausting tour of England with the band playing a different town most days. After Material, they played a big, noisy venue for a Halloween party in the evening at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, having played another in a National Trust property in Bromyard the previous night. Monday is to be a day of filming in Brixton, followed by an evening performance in Brighton.

The new album, The Phantom Sweetheart, is out now from Idle Hands Records, for download, or from me! Its worth buying the CD for the artwork alone. I am really enjoying finally having a copy of the finished album in my hands and on my stereo.