Just
when you thought that this gig year couldn’t get any weirder…!
Young
Stockport indie band Blossoms have (along with the likes of The Courteeners,
The 1975 and Catfish And The Bottlemen) somehow attained arena-level gig
status whilst registering not even the slightest blip on my musical radar
whatsoever, so I initially feigned scant interest on an internet news article
indicating they’d dragged 80’s pop holdover Rick Astley onstage at a recent
warm-up gig for a covers encore. That is, until I heard it… said encore was a
cover of 80’s indie icons The Smiths’ all-time classic “This Charming Man”, and
to my surprise, it sounded damn good, actually! The article them went on to
mention they were playing a couple of one-off gigs covering all Smiths
material, which more than piqued my interest… I loved The Smiths back then, without
fully subscribing to the slavish devotion of most fans for charismatic lead singer
Morrissey, and saw them 5 times “live”. So, I booked tix for the London leg
(the second of two, after the inevitable Manchester opener) for myself and my
gig buddy son Logan (after playing him some stuff which he immediately approved
of) on the O2 pre-sale, and good thing too, as rumour then had it that the general
sale took less than a minute to sell out completely. Wow!
I
was actually champing at the bit to finally get out gigging again, after
Covid-related reasons forcing me to miss a few scheduled late September gigs
(particularly Inhaler, who I was really looking forward to see; Rachel and
Logan still went, and said they were excellent – bugger!) so we headed off on a
sunny Autumn Saturday early afternoon, choosing to take the M4 route “oop the
Smoke” despite threatened delays. Big mistake. A closure at Junction 14 saw us
take 2 hours just to get to Newbury services (!), then another at 4B saw us
heading North onto the M1 (!!) to get back down to Kentish Town, eventually
dumping the motor in our pre-booked parking spot at 5.15 after a tortuous 4
hour journey. Yikes! Only a quick one-stop hop down to Camden, then, rather
than the planned longer shopping excursion, but enough time still to grab some
excellent Thai street food and for Logan to both “fall in love with Camden’s
charms” (as one of heroes Gaz Brookfield would say) and con me into buying him
a new jumper! Back to the venue 15 minutes before doors – we initially had to
join the long GA queue, snaking around the side of the venue and down an alley,
as the O2 Priority queue was full, until an O2 Priority girl, as good as her
word, came and grabbed us from our distant spot to usher us in! Result! Logan
grabbed a bit of front row barrier, house left, and we hunkered down for the
wait as the place filled up. No support, unless you count the “Club Fromage” DJ
onstage, who actually did a fine job getting the crowd in party mood by playing
a mix of cheesy 80’s singalong hits and popular indie stuff, and who fully earned
her ovation as she left at 9.
A
few onstage tweaks (and time for a couple of rounds of “Sweet Caroline”, sung
along lustily by this surprisingly young crowd), before the lights smashed to
black, the “Coronation Street” theme tune started up, and Blossoms slinked
onstage, almost apologetically, followed by Rick Astley, all brandishing
gladioli as per early Smiths gigs (including the couple of times I saw them in
February 1984, gigs 11 and 12!). OK, I thought, this isn’t some kind of weird
fever dream, this is really happening…
Astley
in the 80’s was pretty much the antithesis of my musical tastes, a manufactured
Stock Aitken Waterman plastic soul-pop chart fodder puppet, and scourge of
indie cool (The Wonder Stuff even going so far as to pen a “tribute” to him
entitled “Astley In The Noose”!); however he’s unexpectedly found a cooler
niche of late thanks to the recent “Rickrolling” phenomenon (which if I
understand correctly is basically his cheesy chart hit “Never Gonna Give You
Up” being superimposed on YouTube videos). The Foo Fighters even brought him
onstage at Reading Festival a few years back to “Rickroll” the crowd after initially
making them believe they were going to cover “Smells Like Teen Spirit”! Be that
as it may, I have to admit he’s always had a great voice; a deep, rich sonorous
soul-boy baritone, actually perfect for vast swathes of tonight’s material,
particularly the more mournful, introspective numbers such as “Reel Around The
Fountain” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”. And tonight, bedecked in his
usual blazer and sporting a pair of voluminous checked trousers (which he
referred to as his, “MC Hammer gone golfing look”!), he was an absolute star
from note one of opener “What Difference Does It Make”, immediately getting the
crowd onside by totally nailing the tricky falsetto outro. Respect!
3
numbers in – including an astonishing “Still Ill”, where Astley’s delivery turned
from pure Northern snark in the verses, to almost soaringly operatic in the
chorus – I turned to the lady next to me and remarked, “I’m still not sure I
believe what I’m seeing!”, her beaming reply being, “I know – bonkers, isn’t
it!” This was the crux of the night – a “mad dream [which] came true,”
according to Blossoms vocalist Tom Ogden (an excellent name for a Northern
vocalist – any relation to World Of Twist’s late and lamented Tony?), with self-confessed
Smiths uber-fan Astley “getting away with murder,” performing this beloved
material amazingly well, balancing reverence with an energetic performance
belying his years, and backed up ably by Blossoms who’d clearly done their
homework, delivering the undulating indie jangle as authentically as possible. A
dark, racey “Hand In Glove”, which followed a round of Jaegers called for by
Astley, saw Ogden nail the harmonica riff perfectly to cheers; “The Boy With
The Thorn In His Side”’s melancholy meander was overlaid with Astley’s splendid
yodel, and segued into a deliciously doleful “Girlfriend In A Coma”; and the
“Metal Guru”-esque pounding glam stomp of “Panic” led to a roof-raising “Hang
The DJ!” singalong, Astley delivering the line, “the music they constantly play
says nothing to me about my life” with oodles of conviction and not a whiff of
irony. The phone torches-aloft, stark ballad “Please Please Please Let Me Get
What I Want” ended a swift hour-long set (maybe a little brief, but as Astley stated,
these boys have had to learn 19 numbers from scratch in short order, so fair
enough) which seemed less than half that.
Of
course the most iconic Smiths numbers were left until last; firstly a tremulous,
effects-led “How Soon Is Now”, then guitarist Josh Dewhurst took centre stage
for the intricate riffery of a superb “This Charming Man”. However the best was
saved for last; after a heartfelt tribute to both The Smiths (“I’ve wanted to
sing [their songs] since I was 15”) and his Blossoms backing band (“these
handsome devils!”), Astley delivered one final soaring performance to the
iconic “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”, the crowd once again raising the
roof with a similarly heartfelt and communal singalong. A quite brilliant end
to the night, capped by Dewhurst unmooring Astley’s own setlist and handing it
over to me. Result! Again!
Joined
the slow egress from the venue, the throng singing, “Never Gonna Give You Up”
in tribute to Astley’s excellent shift this evening, then a thankfully swifter
journey home via the M40 and Oxford still saw us home the other side of 1 a.m.
Yikes! Still, well worth it… this utterly bonkers idea could have turned out
brilliant or bowling-shoe ugly, but thankfully was easily the former, with Rick
Astley a true star doing more than justice to The Smiths seminal canon of work.
And in all honesty, given some of Morrissey’s recent remarks, I’d rather see anyone other than him sing Smiths
songs right now!
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