Kirsty MacColl - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: London Fleadh Festival, London, Britain, 6-10-1995

Kirsty MacColl isn't well known for her live performances. She never released a live album, and there aren't even many popular bootlegs for her. She was a naturally shy person and didn't tour that much. But she also was an excellent vocalist, and she could "bring it" in a live setting, as she did here. The setlist pretty much serves as a "best of" for her career to that point.

It seems most of her shows were less than an hour long, and that's the case here. When I first posted this, I used an excellent soundboard bootleg source. In 2023, it was released as part of a box set, but the sound quality was basically unchanged.

The last song actually wasn't part of MacColl's set. The concert was part of a festival with lots of artists, and one of the other artists was Shane MacGowan and the Popes. Since MacColl had a hit duet with MacGown and the Pogues a few years earlier with the song "Fairytale of New York," it made sense that she would join MacGowan's set for that song, which she did. (MacGowan can also be heard at the very start of this album as the one who introduced MacColl's set.) MacGowan was clearly drunk and barely able to get to his lines sometimes, but that should come as no surprise to those who have followed his career.

I believe all the songs are MacColl originals except for "Miss Otis Regrets" (by Cole Porter), "I Wanna Be Sedated" (by the Ramones), "A New England" (by Billy Bragg), and "Fairytale of New York" (by the Pogues).

This concert is only 47 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On November 26, 2023, I updated the album title and the cover art. I found out this concert was broadcast by the BBC, so I've made it "Volume 4" in my BBC series. However, the music remains the same.

01 Tread Lightly (Kirsty MacColl)
02 Caroline (Kirsty MacColl)
03 They Don't Know (Kirsty MacColl)
04 Innocence (Kirsty MacColl)
05 Free World (Kirsty MacColl)
06 Miss Otis Regrets (Kirsty MacColl)
07 talk (Kirsty MacColl)
08 My Affair (Kirsty MacColl)
09 Don't Come the Cowboy with Me, Sonny Jim (Kirsty MacColl)
10 Walking Down Madison (Kirsty MacColl)
11 A New England (Kirsty MacColl)
12 I Wanna Be Sedated (Kirsty MacColl)
13 Fairytale of New York (Kirsty MacColl & Shane MacGowan & the Popes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15987508/KirstyMacC_1995c_BBSessonsVolum4LondnFleadhFstivlLondnBrtain__6-10-1995_atse.zip.html

I'm happy to say that the photo of MacColl actually comes from the concert in question. Note that even though she's holding an acoustic guitar, this is a full-band performance, not a solo acoustic one.