I'd had my tickets for this show seemingly for a very long time indeed. Well, since February as it was originally scheduled for the end of May but got put back and attached to the Ether Festival. Still I was glad to have a great seat in the fourth row of a seemingly not particularly full Festival Hall when LUCY ROSE came on to open the show.
She was a very shy young woman in an RNLI sweatshirt who looked and admitted to being somewhat scared to be playing solo in such a big hall as she sat and played her acoustic guitar and sang songs mainly about relationships that had either ended too soon or not soon enough.
As she sang about the first time or when we were in love in a plaintive voice what struck me almost straightaway was how much seeing her reminded me of two particular performances. One was seeing Tanita Tikaram opening for Jonathan Richman at the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden about a week before she got signed and the other one was Beth Orton opening for John Cale at Shepherd's Bush Empire just before her first album came out. Both of those shows were cases of seeing people who weren't really my bag but looked like they would be big in the near future.
I'm not sure if I heard what will be her first hit in Saturday but although she isn't as frazzled as Beth Orton or as earnest as Tanita Tikaram there is something there as she sings about leaving you to burn, or about how she is over you and as she had played in Brussels the night before with her full band it is safe to say many of these songs would have sounded better with the oomph of a group behind her.
After the break it was time to see JOHN CALE once again. His current band is Dustin Boyer on uuitar, Joey Marambar on bass and Alex Thomas on drums. They opened with a slow and mesmerising version of Captain Hook that had some very nifty guitar work from Dustin in the opening instrumental sequence. John looked good in a pink, candy-striped jacket and a checked shirt whose collars stayed up in a Mike Brierley style throughout. This was topped off with a grey skinny tie.
He introduced the first of the new songs from his latest Danger Mouse-produced album Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood. Blue Tooth swings and having not heard the new album before the show, I have to say it sounded pretty good even if the way this band were playing was more suited to a proper rock club rather than the seated austerity of the Festival hall that really lacked any atmosphere throughout this show.
He dedicated Hey Ray to Ray Johnson and New York between 1960 and I think he said 68. They did a playful version of it and it sounded good. John seemed to be enjoying himself on the Keyboards even if he was shuffling the notes stuck to the keys between most numbers.
Perfection, from the recent Extra Playful EP was next and thankfully it was sans any of the electronics on the record and sounded better for it. I Wanna Talk 2 U, the lead track from the new album was next and sounded OK but I think I need to hear it a few times to see if I really get it. Unlike Guts, that just sounded great, with some good rumbling bass and a very cool solo from Dustin Boyer. Cale seemed to be really enjoying playing one of his classics.
He then introduced Scotland Yard. That seems to be about living in Scotland Yard which is of course possible as it is a turning just off of Whitehall but seemed like an odd choice of song subject. He then introduced Praetorian Underground as an Oldie which was a shock to me as it was a new song the first time I saw Cale back in 1984 at the Venue in Victoria. That is sadly in the middle of being demolished having been a pizza restaurant store room for 20 years. Still it sounds great even if a slightly odd choice of classic tune.
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Then it was back to the new album for December Rains. That, for me, was the best of the new songs played tonight; it just seemed to have a good build to it and the band really seemed to mesh well on it. Unlike Cry which seemed to be dashed off without a care.
John then switched to an electric guitar for a great version of Helen Of Troy with plenty of bite and Dustin and Joey getting the backing vocals pretty spot on. The gig then ran into a bit of a brick wall as John tried to put his Acoustic guitar on and had some trouble with the strap, and then the roadie couldn't get the strap on. They farted about and eventually the roadie went and found another strap and eventually they were ready to play Catastrofuk. It was almost like it was meant to fall apart then just to emphasise just what a catastrophe John was singing about, but actually it seemed to knock them out of rhythm a bit. Thankfully they recovered on Things (To do in Denver when you're dead). Whaddya Mean By That sounded OK but by this point I wanted to hear more older material and less of the new stuff.
Well John isn't too interested in his classics at this gig and switches back to Keyboards for Face to The Sky which sounded like he could have written it in the mid 80's which is what he did for the next 'Oldie', Satellite walk. He again played acoustic guitar on it, but it was another oldie that really seemed like an odd choice but sounded pretty good none the less.
It was then back to the electric Guitar for John on the closing two numbers. The Hanging seems to have some really dark, nasty lyrics and then Nookie Wood: the title song off the new album that to be truthful left me a little blank. The song might grow on me though. They left the stage to muted but persistent applause that soon got them back for a well-deserved encore that saw the band go back to the real classics with a strong version of Gun that bled and mutated into Pablo Picasso with John and the band at one point doing a call and response of native American war cries which was a bit odd before they rumbled into the traditional finish of the song with John wishing us good night, good night.
They left the stage to good applause and most of the people in the front section were on their feet. On leaving, I heard several of the staff complaining that John had run over by about 35 minutes and how late a finish it was, which was kind of funny as the show ended by 10.30 on a Saturday night: hardly late in a venue with nothing happening in it afterwards. A good show, but one that really needed to be lifted by the inclusion of more classic material.
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