Live Reviews June 2006
Quick-links to sub-sections:
Alejandro Escovedo String Quintet - St James Chuch, London - 2nd June 2006
Rachelle Van Zanten, Jason McNiff and Owen Tromans - Railway Inn, Winchester - 5th June 2006
Cosmic Rough Riders – Liverpool Academy 4 – 10th June 2006
Cosmic Rough Riders - Metro Club, London - 14th June 2006
Rachael Warwick - The Musician, Leicester - 25th June 2006
The Coal Porters/Adam Beattie - The Goat, Glasgow - 26th June 2006
John Fogerty - Hamersmith Apollo, London - 29th June 2006
Steve Earle, Reprieve Benefit Concert-Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London 5 June 2006.
| Reviews include the Alejandro Escovedo String Quintet, Rachelle Van Zanten, Jason McNiff, Owen Tromans, the Cosmic Rough Riders, Rachael Warwick, the Coal Porters with Adam Beattie and John Fogerty.
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Alejandro Escovedo String Quintet - St James Chuch, London - 2nd June 2006
Review by Andy Riggs
Alejandro Escovedo's last visit to the UK was in December 2002, and since then he has encountered a life threatening bout of Hepatitis C. With a new record just released on Back Porch Records 'The Boxing Mirror' Alejandro is back touring, albeit without his stomping electric band (last seen at The Borderline in December 2002 for one of the concerts of the decade) - tonight he is accompanied by this quieter five piece string ensemble (acoustic guitar, cello & violin).
In 2004 friends of Escovedo such as Lucinda Williams, Calexico, Jon Dee Graham, Ian McLagan, Ian Hunter, Peter Case, Tres Chicas, The Jayhawks, Son Volt and Chris Stamey all contributed to the brilliant double CD 'Por Vida' where funds were put towards Escovedo's medical & living expenses - the list of the contributors on that record clearly showing the high regard Alejandro's music has - but as we know critical acclaim doesn't pay the bills.
For tonight's show at the unusual setting of St James Church he picks over songs from all this career plus a couple of new tracks. A packed church was treated to 90 minutes of this brilliant acoustic set - highlights of the set were 'Babys Got New Clothes', 'Castanets', 'I Was Drunk', 'Rosalie', and a fabulous new song 'Lolita's Lullaby's from the new record dedicated to his mum and dad (his father passed away recently).
For an encore we were treated to one of the highlights of this stunning set where the band unplugged their instruments and settled down in the pew to play without amplifiers and microphones - absolutely brilliant and his voice was stupendous. The 90 minutes were over all too briefly and it's great to see Alejandro back in good health and making new records. Check out <SPAN STYLE="font-family: Arial; color: #666666; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none" onMouseOver = "this.style.color = '#CC9933';" onMouseOut = "this.style.color = '#666666'">http://www.alejandroescovedo.com</span> for an authorised version of this live set called 'Room of Songs'. | | Rachelle Van Zanten, Jason McNiff and Owen Tromans - Railway Inn, Winchester - 5th June 2006
Review by David Bird
The Railway’s one of the small venues Americana shows are particularly blessed with. It’s bittersweet though, acts so close you see how good they are but going home baffled as to why they aren’t filling bigger halls. Still, having got guilt out of the way let’s warm hands at the talent that was on this particular evening. An imaginative bill, but with a headliner probably unknown to a UK audience, so chances being taken by promoter Oliver Gray.
Owen Tromans - I had heard of Owen Tromans through a link to Bearos records website – and thought him a straight up folker from the song I heard. But turns out there’s more indy to his style. A set of attractive pop songs had me thinking him a UK equivalent of artists on a US coffee house circuit. We also got a subdued reading of The Boss’ Dancing In The dark the end of which had him striding into the room to deliver a hail of effects to the group gathered at the bar end of the room. Last word goes to a spanking new tune, described as an anthem, that I can’t remember the title of, that would have made a good World Cup song for those about to be disappointed (you know who you are). Worth keeping an eye on, take a look if he’s on near you.
Jason McNiff - Visited AUK and haven’t heard of Jason McNiff, what have you been doing? I’d seen several references but hadn’t heard him so new to me. When he started singing opener In our Time my first thought was Dylanesque, but the sheer beauty of the song soon swept that away. So it went on, lovely songs, exquisitely played, and sung in that husky croak. He played tunes from the recent CD, with Tomorrow Never Knows thrown in – recently recorded it for a Mojo cover CD. Later I reread Mark Whitfield’s Another Man CD review, I think he got it right, underrated indeed; Jason McNiff has talent in spades and with a bit of luck he’ll go far.
Rachelle Van Zanten - Who she? Another talented Albertan singer and guitarist at home with rootsy slide stomps and delicate picking that’s who. Promoter Oliver saw her set at SXSW recently and persuaded her to fit his SXSC version in on the way home from her Holland and Germany tour. He was impressed, he wasn’t wrong. My first sighting was a girl in the pub toting a huge pack back holding a toothbrush. 3 hours later she was stomping her way through a fantastic set of grinding slide riffs on songs like Take Me Right Back and her “German pop hit” the rootsy wordless Yah Yahs laced with impressive delicate fretwork on tunes like The Cracks, Rusty Boy and Dirty Water. Rachelle mentioned missing her band, but built up a considerable rhythm solo. A fine singer and an engaging, likable stage presence, happy to banter and discuss touring delights: cycling in Germany, arriving at a train station to find a Nazi riot in progress, Druids in Glastonbury and Oliver’s big rented amp only being on 1 and 11 probably resulting in her death by feedback. Did she really just tour Europe carrying a backpack, 2 guitars and a box of CDs on planes, trains and buses? She’s clearly doing things her way. She needed that box of CDs too – quite a queue at the end. She say’s she’ll be back with the band soon, really, don’t miss her, she’s great, she’s gonna need more CDs! | | Cosmic Rough Riders – Liverpool Academy 4 – 10th June 2006
Review by Mark Whitfield
When you hear a gig’s on at the Academy 4 in Liverpool it always makes your heart sink. The chances of them having anything more than one beer (always Carling…) on tap is close to zero, the sound’s usually rotten and it’s a 5 mile hike every time nature calls. Still, the Cosmics’ bright summery sound can fix at least some of that surely? You’d think so, but unfortunately the band were thwarted at every opportunity during tonight’s gig, specifically because throughout the sound was clearly not right – if there’s one thing that defines the Cosmics' sound, it’s their harmonies. So when one mic is either on too low or not at all for the duration of the whole gig, you can understand why the band finished abruptly without an encore barely an hour into the set. The potential was there – running through tracks from the it has to be said quite dissapointing new album such as opener “It is I,” latest single “In Time” and the really rather fine “Lost in America,” the fact that the songs obviously weren’t being heard as originally intended didn’t stop you imagining what they would have sounded like. But consequently it was with the better known songs such as “Now That You Know” from the last album “Revolution in the Summertime” from “Enjoy the Melodic” that you really heard that gulf between the songs we know and the songs we heard tonight. Interestingly, the band seem to have banished the pre “Too Close” years for good as “Revolution” aside, we hardly heard any of ex-lead vocalist Dan Wylie’s best numbers throughout, but maybe that’s a band trying to forge an identity for themselves. On the evidence of tonight, it’s hard to know whether they have that if you didn't know of past records to put things straight. A different venue next time might not be such a bad idea. | | Cosmic Rough Riders - Metro Club, London - 14th June 2006
Review by Jonathan Aird
The Cosmic Rough Riders often get compared to the Byrds, and there is some similarity between their last couple of albums and the Byrds circa 5th Dimension / Notorious Byrd Brothers (the earlier folk-rock and psychedilia blending into the start of country-rock). So, that's the Americana credentials ! Their latest album (The Stars Look Different From Down Here) retains some elements of their earlier work, but has less acoustic instrumentation which gives it a harder rocking feel. There are still plenty of catchy musical and lyrical hooks, and a sort of mid-period Beatles feel to several of the tracks.
The support had been listed as being Alfa 9 and Elin Ruth, but on the night Elin Ruth was a no-show. This spoilt the maths which had gone something like: doors 7:30, 1st band on at 8 for 30 minute set, 2nd band at 8:45, Cosmics on at ~9:30 for a finish at ~11 when the metro becomes a night-club.
It wasn't until just after nine o' clock that Alfa 9 came out to do a short set which exhibited a strong musicality - a blend of Explosions in the Sky and Pink Floyd came to mind - but lyrically was unmemorable. They were certainly loud (5 piece band : drums, keyboards, bass, and 2 guitars), which didn't assist vocal delivery. It did make metal fittings at the bar vibrate though. Perhaps they'd be better off adopting the Explosions in the Sky tactic of just not singing ? Nobody could fault the drummer, who gave it his all and then some. Worth looking out for.
This left about an hour for the Cosmic Rough Riders (CRR) to step out of the crowd and onto the stage for a short set of around a dozen songs that highlighted their new album (7 songs), but mixing in some old favourites as well. They didn't aim for the same volume level as Alfa 9, but in the "intimate" setting of the Metro Club were still plenty powerful enough. CRR are currently a 3 piece (drum, bass, rhythm guitar), with an additional lead guitarist (Paul Docherty). Obviously I don't know the "politics" of being "CRR with Paul Docherty", but they should try and hang onto this guy. Opening with a track from the new album - Lost in America - which uses distorted vocals was, perhaps, a mistake, as live the vocals were quite distorted. Similarly on It is I there is a very odd intro which has the possibility of sounding like a mistake when played live. It's fine if you've given the album a good play for the last couple of weeks, not so good otherwise. On the whole though the set was delivered with conviction and increasing confidence, so by the time of the crowd pleasing Justify the Rain and Revolution everything had clicked firmly into place and even without any acoustic guitar the songs shone.
Before their last song - Because You - the "bands must clear the stage by 11" sign was mentioned by lead singer Stephen Fleming, so despite some hollers for "more" there wasn't any real hope of an encore.
Excellent night, could have been longer, but I guess the band are using this mini-tour as a way of sharpening up the new material prior to their summer festivals appearances.
Set List: (with possible errors in running order in the middle section, the first 3 and the last 4 are right though !)
Lost in America
Love won't free me
For a smile
It is I
In Time
When you come around
Kill the time
Emptiness
Justify the Rain
Revolution (in the summer time)
Don't get me down
Because You | | Rachael Warwick - The Musician, Leicester - 25th June 2006
Review by Jeremy Searle
Some gigs are great because they have great songs. Some gigs are great because they have great playing. But the best gigs have both, and that something extra that moves them from the merely great to the transcendent. This was such a gig. In front of an audience charitably described as sparse (good weather and the World Cup having taken their toll) Rachael Warwick and her band, New Jack Union, tore the place apart, delivering a scorching performance of such intensity and fire that you feared for the paint on the walls.
Still young enough to have an engaging naivety about them, and to enjoy every moment they spend on stage, New Jack Union are one of the finest bands I have seen in many a year. A blazing powerhouse of sound, they are underpinned by Dean Rees’ superlative Hammond playing, while Shiny Clay and Sly Jones trade guitar licks (and Clay contributes some classy slide work) and third guitarist Chris Startup, despite looking like he’d wandered in from an entirely different, slightly crusty, band does sterling work on acoustic and harp. And fronting it all to the manner born is Rachael Warwick. With a hint of Pat Benatar in the vocals and delivery, and power to spare, she burns enough energy to light up not merely The Musician, but the rest of Leicester as well.
About half the set is drawn from her acclaimed debut “Anglo Americana”, with the rest being covers, of which a tender “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” and a gut-wrenching slow take on “Jolene” are the highlights. This is mainstream country with a rock edge, but make no mistake, it is country. On a day where the papers are full of Nicole Kidman, where else but a country gig would you hear the phrase “Keith Urban got married today”?
Perhaps there are too many covers, perhaps the songs sound that bit better because they’re played by such a kick-ass band, but this is to quibble for the sake of it. If anyone can capture the hearts and minds of the “I hate country” brigade then it’s this cool and classy crew. If Rachael Warwick & New Jack Union aren’t the future of British country music then they damn well should be. | | The Coal Porters/Adam Beattie - The Goat, Glasgow - 26th June 2006
Review by Paul Kerr
Billed as part of Glasgow’s West End Festival, Sid Griffin’s Porters played two gigs at two bars this Sunday. An afternoon slot was followed by this evening set in a cramped space with the band packed into a corner causing Mr. Griffin to be poked in the head on more than one occasion by fiddler Gemma White’s bow. Despite this the band turned in a fine set of rousing bluegrass driven songs with Sid barking like a fairground showman in the intervals. With made up biographies for band members and a freewheeling grasp of geography he entertained the crowd and by sheer force of personality won out on the competition of a world cup game shown on the telly in the opposite corner. Despite the cramped space the band played well taking their turns at the mic to play their solos. Highlights were the Long Ryder’s tune, Final Wild Son, banjo player Pat McGarvey’s song, No Tongue Can Tell and the finale, a moving rendition of Sin City with the band moving into the crowd and leading a massed chorus. Always a joy to see and hear it was great to have the band throw themselves wholeheartedly into a free gig in a small venue. The Goat (and Laurie (Iggy) Keith) is to be congratulated for the music policy which has seen several fine bands play here. Support act Adam Beattie was new to me, He played a short, intriguing set of literate vignettes (with shades of Tom Waits and Ramsay Midwood) ably assisted by Chris Croasdale on guitar and Roy Shearer on percussion, harmonium and what appeared to be a toy xylophone. Shearer in particular impressed getting sounds from a small kit that did not seem possible. | | John Fogerty - Hamersmith Apollo, London - 29th June 2006
Review by Jonathan Aird
The advertising said "the voice, the guitar, the songwriter of Creedence Clearwater Revival", which is clearly a good enough reason to buy the ticket. Although it could of course be argued with, a claim that Creedence were - for a brief time - probably the best rock and roll band in the world certainly has the ring of truth about it.
There are the usual concerns - is this just the CCR nostalgia show ? Will there be new stuff - if so how much and will it be any good ? The recent (very good) appearance on "Later with Jools Holland", hadn't lessened all the doubts - still at least the Fogerty visage would be less of a shock than it might have otherwise been - ladies and gentlemen time definitely does pass, and we do all get older.
Well, enough preamble. For those in a hurry here's the 5 word review : "cool, cool, cool, Fogerty rocks !". Yes indeed, it really was that good. Starting with a short promo video, which had every snippet of a familiar guitar riff getting a cheer from the audience, the concert kicked off with Travellin' Band, then straight into Green River and then Who'll Stop the rain. And they just kept coming, great song after great song (a full set list will be available on the John Fogerty web-page, and will contain every song you're likely to think of, with the exception of Lodi !).
OK, it was mainly CCR, but not just some hack bashing out of the familiar tunes, the band (keyboards, drums, bass, rhythm and rhythm/second lead guitar) put real effort into making these excellent performances. It was an effort to remain seated - the Hammersmith Apollo polices out of seaters quite rigidly - until the big surge forward to the stage finally happened - which was in response to Willie and the Poor Boys.
And what an incredible number of songs were packed into the 90 minutes or so - of course Creedence were masters of the 2 minute single, but there was also room for longer workouts on the likes of Heard it through the Grapevine, Ramble Tamble, and Keep on Chooglin'. The newish Deja Vu all over again was accompanied by a video comparing the Vietnam and Gulf War experiences, whilst Fogerty played acoustic guitar and the rest of the band took a break. Fogerty's ability to hold an audience is truly remarkable: there was an electric guitar solo where Fogerty stood to one side, lit by a single spotlight the rest of the stage darkened and there was a tremendous feeling of being the only person in the auditorium - the audience was suddenly quiet and still. Then with a casual power chord the rest of the band kicked in again and everything took a step change which took a while to readjust to. Perfection.
And as the venue became increasingly humid, and the press of people at the stage became increasingly packed Fogerty just kept on bouncing around the stage and letting rip with hollerin' vocals and blistering bursts of guitar. He gave it his all. He shook our hands. He joked. He finished with Rockin' All over the world (miraculously reclaimed from Status Quo), Fortunate Son and Proud Mary against a stars and stripes backdrop and then a bayou backdrop. Then, exhausted and exhilarated we left. And I like it, I like it, I la-la-la-like it. | | Steve Earle, Reprieve Benefit Concert-Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London 5 June 2006.
Review by Barry Jones
The principle of charity gigs is long established and fairly simple; performers offer their services, ticket sales go towards the said charity and everybody benefits, the joy is in the giving. So what makes this gig stand out?
Well the venue for a start. The Globe theatre on the south bank of the Thames is a faithful reconstruction of how the theatre would have been during Shakespeare’s time. Open to the elements, it really is a “National treasure” to quote Steve Earle, who, along with comedian Stewart Lee, found that he could not resist the temptation to go all thespian on us.
Then of course there are the performers themselves, and tonight we are very well served. Stephen K Amos comperes and manages to warm up the capacity audience, on a fairly chilly evening, and jocularly introduces the alternating fayre of speakers, comedians and musicians.
I realise that these are probably in the wrong priority order, but bear with me, next comes the cause. Reprieve’s founder and legal director, Clive Stafford Smith, has spent more than twenty years representing people facing the death penalty, he addresses the audience about the principle aim of the charity which is the abolition of the death penalty, and also about the continuing plight of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, having only returned from there on the morning of the event.
Throughout the evening recordings of the favourite songs of current and former death row prisoners are played whenever the opportunity arises, including such diverse selections as 2Pac, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Motley Crue, but the first live music offering is from David Knopfler, brother of Mark and founding member of Dire Straits. Accompanied by a guitarist, he delivers a few songs with a hint of Dire Straits about them, and he seems to be an altogether “good bloke”, to borrow Mark Thomas’s borrowed catchphrase of the evening. As his brief set draws to a close, Karine Polwart joins them on stage and performs just one song, The Sun’s Comin’ Over The Hill, with a fine clear voice, clever, intelligent lyrics and a delivery not unlike a female version of Dick Gaughan at his 1980’s best, no finer praise can I offer. David Knopfler must be a good bloke to let someone join him and upstage him completely. We would have loved to hear more.
Nick Yarris spoke movingly and eloquently about his time, 23 years, in solitary confinement, for a crime he did not commit. Understandably he displayed some bitterness to his home country, USA, and talked about how DNA testing had exonerated him. As he walked from the stage the 1000 strong audience was already dipping further into its pockets and filling up the charity buckets which circulated amongst them.
Smack The Pony writer, comedian Kevin Eldon was, unfortunately, elsewhere so his alter ego, poet Paul Sullivan arrived instead, clever stuff! That also goes for Stewart Lee, who seems to die on his feet at one stage, but manages to recover by the end in a display of the art of stand-up comedy. A sort of “how not to do it” followed by “how to do it”, painful at times, but ultimately rewarding. (Stand-up comedy is masochism; discuss.)
Best reaction of the night though goes to Craig and Charlie, The Proclaimers. They sing their greatest hits, finishing off with 500 Miles, with full audience participation. The cries for more are denied, but, to be fair, they would find themselves a hard act to follow.
Mark Thomas combines comedy with debunking injustice and hypocrisy. He’s a clever performer, and animated, so that people who don’t necessarily agree with the methods of his protests can still laugh at his comedic impersonations. There’s a fair chance that most of the audience agree with his methods, so all’s well for him then.
Allison Moorer is fragrant and elegant and accomplished as usual, highlights being Hard Place to Fall and culminating with a very emotional and heartfelt powerful rendition of A Change’s Gonna Come. Stunning looking, great voice and compassionate as well, she’d make an aging musician a lovely wife.
So, Steve Earle then, a reformed bad-boy, an outspoken critic of the death penalty, author of Karla, a play about Karla Faye Tucker who was executed in 1998, writer of outstanding, moving insightful songs about murderer’s and the death penalty (Billy Austin, Ellis Unit One) and a consummate live performer. His credentials for headlining an event like this are undeniable. In these circumstances it seems churlish to criticise his performance, but his first three songs, one words fluffed (I Feel Alright) one guitar parts fluffed (My Old Friend The Blues) and then a mandolin song, Dixieland, with some real ham-fisted mandolin playing, at which point I left for the wobbly bridge, the train and bed. It seems to me as though things had run on slightly, putting pressure on him to rush what he wanted to do, which is really a shame, because in a fair world somebody like Steve Earle, who gives his time and real emotion to supporting for the underdog should be top of the bill, and nail it totally, but unfortunately it’s not a fair world, as we all know. Anyway nobody else seems to mind and the night is a total triumph, good cause, great speakers and performers, great venue, very enjoyable, but for all that, let’s hope we don’t have to have too many of them.
(www.reprieve.org.uk) |
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