Seeing Roy Harper perform during those early years was not so much a performance as an experience. It was a bumpy ride through a mind. You never quite knew where it would take him or you. Roy sat on stage in front of a small audience and treated it more like a small gathering of friends in his front room rather than a concert. And we were nearly all tuned in to his wavelength and went along for the ride. You never knew where it would lead.
There were the songs – and they were incredible epics of vitriol and observation, amazing musical journeys and poetic imagery – but there were also the words that spilt out in between and often during those songs. As the ideas and thoughts came into his head he turned on the tap and out they spilt. You never knew what was coming. It was not confined to commentary of the songs so much as observations of life. He would stop a song midway to divulge a thought. He would start a song and then stop and go into a story. Sometimes a song would start multiple times. All punctuated with laughter and craziness.
A typical Roy concert would have as much talk as there was music and most of us were glued to it. The talk was as good as the music. You came out of those early concerts with your mind buzzing as the thoughts swirled. On the way home you’d be madly talking and distilling the essence into sense.