A bit of a car-mare to start with; Rachel picked me up at 5, but the car - her brother's - refused to start at Sarah's! We eventually bump-started it, but this didn't bode well for a post-gig restart. However, we parked up at 6.30 (!) and were seated in one of the seating blocks to the right of the nowhere-near-as-big-as-expected venue (about the size of Newport Centre, really) for the first band Tiger at 7. They were lumpen, metronomic and dull - 'bout what I expected, really. Guitarist Julie's short leather skirt was for me the most entertaining part of their set!
There were a few more people in for Eels set; the band which really swung it for me to come along tonight. They took the stage in white kung-fu suits, and preceded their set with some slick warm-up moves and kicks! They then played a damn fine set of their introspective doom ballads, punctuated by a "Novocaine For The Soul" in a Tex-Mex Los Lobos style, a "My Beloved Monster" which comedically transformed into "My Girl", an unusual but gripping Christmas song with an audience member on shaky bell thingies, and a superb "Last Stop; This Town", the set highlight. Heartbreak rarely sounded so joyful.
On to Pulp then. They hit the stage at 9, a silhouetted Jarvis leading the band through "The Fear", with his usual staccato dance, soon joined by... another Jarvis! It turned out Jarvo No. 2 was the kosher article, the other being a very convincing look/dance/soundalike! A clutch of favourites ensued; the perfect glam kitsch pop of "Babies", the sinister hooks of "Joyriders", and the deliciously grubby balladry of "Underwear". However their set was punctuated with too many disappointing numbers from recent "This Is Hardcore" LP, although Jarv is undeniably still a fantastic frontman, holding the audience in the palm of his hand throughout. A riotous "Common People" capped an energetic and sleazy hour and a half. If they'd have cut out the mid-section of the set, it would've been an utterly splendid hour!
Oh yeh, and the car started first time afterwards, and we were back just after 12 - in double-quick time!
Showing posts with label Eels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eels. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Monday, 19 July 2010
432 EELS, Lori Carson, London Dominion Theatre, Monday 13 March 2000
What turned out to be the first of 4 gigs in 4 nights started with Rachel and myself making a day of it in London, meeting visiting Boston friends Michael and Mark, then heading over to Camden for beer, pool, record shopping and designer noodles! More beer in the Tottenham on Oxford Street, before heading around the corner to the venue, taking our seats in the stalls, stage left. A good spot! Support Lori Carson, a folky type with long hair and skirts, peddled an innocuous and instantly forgettable set of bland balladry, which the audience mainly talked over!
Had the "3 minute call" just before 9, so re-took our seats for the entrance of Eels, onto a set laid out suspiciously for a show-band, with ball lights and candy striped backdrop. The band first played a medley, with a horn section, featuring someone dressed as Father Christmas (!), and a prominently-featured talented female multi-instrumentalist, who we later discovered was Lisa Germano (why didn't she support?), prior to the entrance of E.
The new Eels album represents an upbeat shift from the harrowing introspection of their previous murder balladry, and the set tonight reflected this. E, denim clad like a mid-West motor mechanic, played the set for irony, and the excellent band backed up his personal, superbly structured mood music perfectly. "My Beloved Monster" was undoubtedly the set highlight, and although the set wallowed in downbeat mood midway through, this was only temporary and didn't stop the hour-long set flying by. Two separate encores (the first featuring another different reading of "Novocaine For The Soul", this time in the style of the moon landing music!) rounded off the set splendidly, before the house lights came up and we all went to leave. Then...
The band re-appeared at this point! With the house lights still on, they played another jolly number to send the few, who had stuck around, home in a positive mood. Like I said, playing it for irony. A fine evening's entertainment!
Had the "3 minute call" just before 9, so re-took our seats for the entrance of Eels, onto a set laid out suspiciously for a show-band, with ball lights and candy striped backdrop. The band first played a medley, with a horn section, featuring someone dressed as Father Christmas (!), and a prominently-featured talented female multi-instrumentalist, who we later discovered was Lisa Germano (why didn't she support?), prior to the entrance of E.
The new Eels album represents an upbeat shift from the harrowing introspection of their previous murder balladry, and the set tonight reflected this. E, denim clad like a mid-West motor mechanic, played the set for irony, and the excellent band backed up his personal, superbly structured mood music perfectly. "My Beloved Monster" was undoubtedly the set highlight, and although the set wallowed in downbeat mood midway through, this was only temporary and didn't stop the hour-long set flying by. Two separate encores (the first featuring another different reading of "Novocaine For The Soul", this time in the style of the moon landing music!) rounded off the set splendidly, before the house lights came up and we all went to leave. Then...
The band re-appeared at this point! With the house lights still on, they played another jolly number to send the few, who had stuck around, home in a positive mood. Like I said, playing it for irony. A fine evening's entertainment!
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
451 EELS, The Webb Brothers, Bristol Colston Hall, Saturday 15 July 2000
Back on the gig trail finally, after 3 gigs postponed to allow for my convalescence from an emergency appendectomy. Rachel borrowed her parents' car for transport, and we trotted down the M4, stopping for pasties, and parking behind the Colston Hall in good time for the Webb Brothers. These US West Coast tunesmiths arrived at 8, all in white, and, ably backed by a fine and sympathetic band, they played a cool and relaxing set. Sons of 60's psychedelia musician Jimmy Webb, they've inherited the old man's talent for a good laid-back tune. A considerably better set than their Reading Festival performance last year, with the final number, the title track of new CD "Maroon", a highlight. They left me thinking they're a band with the potential to produce a truly great album, if they'd only cut loose with the harmonies a bit more. Let's wait and see...
Eels arrived at 9, with the set laid out in much the same way as their April Dominion show (gig 432); drum and horn section riser, a collection of instruments for Lisa Germano (again a guest) to play, and a conspicuously stage-left battered old piano. When the band emerged - a nun and a sultan on horns this time, with drummer Butch dressed as a Hawaiian hula-girl (!) - they again played the showband hits medley, before mainman E emerged, led on by a bouncer and playing the blind man! Eels again were excellent. E's touching, haunting balladry, intensely personal yet instantly recognisable, was much to the fore, but the mood swung entertainingly from "wallow" to "fun" (viz the jauntily sing-along "I Love Birds"). "Novocaine For The Soul" was this time portrayed as a space-opera opus; when will they ever play that one straight? A stunning "Susan's House", with Lisa Germano singing the chorus line, closed the set.
That wasn't it, though! "I've just been informed that it's Saturday night, and I want to apologise as we've been playing you a Tuesday night set," joked E, before dragging a couple of audience members onstage, having a mock argument with Butch, then launching into ridiculously jolly, almost Fountains Of Wayne-like single "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues". A stretched encore brought the running time to 1 hour 40 minutes which raced past, despite E's reputation for songs of harrowing desolation. This, once again, was Entertainment with a capital E. Goddamn right!
Eels arrived at 9, with the set laid out in much the same way as their April Dominion show (gig 432); drum and horn section riser, a collection of instruments for Lisa Germano (again a guest) to play, and a conspicuously stage-left battered old piano. When the band emerged - a nun and a sultan on horns this time, with drummer Butch dressed as a Hawaiian hula-girl (!) - they again played the showband hits medley, before mainman E emerged, led on by a bouncer and playing the blind man! Eels again were excellent. E's touching, haunting balladry, intensely personal yet instantly recognisable, was much to the fore, but the mood swung entertainingly from "wallow" to "fun" (viz the jauntily sing-along "I Love Birds"). "Novocaine For The Soul" was this time portrayed as a space-opera opus; when will they ever play that one straight? A stunning "Susan's House", with Lisa Germano singing the chorus line, closed the set.
That wasn't it, though! "I've just been informed that it's Saturday night, and I want to apologise as we've been playing you a Tuesday night set," joked E, before dragging a couple of audience members onstage, having a mock argument with Butch, then launching into ridiculously jolly, almost Fountains Of Wayne-like single "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues". A stretched encore brought the running time to 1 hour 40 minutes which raced past, despite E's reputation for songs of harrowing desolation. This, once again, was Entertainment with a capital E. Goddamn right!
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