1 September, 2004- Carling Academy, Islington,
UK
please scroll down for all the reviews
review by Kat
The venue was pretty small and could have used a little
more light on the stage and less on the bars flanking it, acoustics
were pretty good and tested admirably by the pretty fine backing band,
the Duke's Spirit who are the best female fronted band I've heard
in a while, with a spirited range of songs, and a great vocal performance
from their frontwoman ably backed by the sonic sweep of the guitars.
The Duke's Spirit ended their set pretty early considering the lengthly
soundchecking, set up, tuning and taping down process ( the tech guy
seemed to tape down everything that wasn't moving and at least 4 set
lists) that followed courtesy of the roadie who got increasingly heckled
by the impatient audience. However when Mark and Band arrived at around
9:35 the crowd was instantly satiated by his declaration that … 'good
things are worth waiting for'. Mark looked impressive and generally
pretty happy and with the opening lilt of 'When Your Number Isn't
Up' hit, the crowd was awed, later shouting 'We love you' greeted
reciprocally with Mark's 'we love you too'. Mark's voice was in fine
form both sepulchral and achingly beautiful. My prime spot second
row behind a shorter girl than myself and right in front of Mark was
perfect for seeing his facial expressions emote with every line. The
set was almost perfect with 'Hit the City', 'Wedding Dress' and 'Creeping
Coastline' sublime in both Mark and the Bands performance, 'No Easy
Action' and 'Miracle' were also inspirational with 'One Hundred Days'
standing out, with the front of the crowd singing in unison . 'Come
to me' a personal fave was sung with an unparalleled emotional resonance
and passion by Mark but although Shelly's performance was good you
couldn't help longing for PJ Harvey to be there to compliment Mark's
performance with her soulful vocals. 'Sideways in Reverse' was electric
with Brett's great solo but in contrast 'Methaphetamine Blues' was
sung at a slower tempo than on record but both were still great and
elicited a loving response from the crowd.
Other highlights included 'I'll take care of You' beautiful and impassioned,
'Resurrection Song' awe inspiring and from the gratefully welcomed
encore the wonderful 'Message to Mine' and the perfect 'Sleep with
Me'. With the final flourish of 'fix' Mark left the stage and left
Brett, Troy, Norman and Eddie to awe the crowd with their musical
prowess, wonderful. All in all the performance was sublime and left
me emotionally drained but immensely grateful for witnessing it. After
the show a Mark Lanegan first time concert goer I met was left shaking
in awe, standing outside we ran in to Norman and talked to him for
a while, really great guy, great end to a fantastic night.
Setlist
When Your Number Isn't Up
Hit The City
Wedding Dress
Creeping Coastline
No Easy Action
Miracle
One Hundred Days
Sideways In Reverse
One Way Street
Come To Me
Resurrection Song
Driving Death Valley Blues
I'll Take Care Of You
Little Willie John
Skeletal History
Methamphetamine Blues
Encore:
Message To Mine.
Sleep With Me
Pendulum
Fix
review by mokkly
Another 'late' start. But visibly more soundchecking
(than Milton Keynes) between support and headliner.
Strolling onstage at 9.40, Mark declared to an impatient London crowd,
quite simply… 'good things are worth waiting for' - this time they
did not disappoint. Playing to the biggest London crowd I've seen
for a Mark Lanegan show (a sold out show, too), they began with a
mighty and beautiful sounding When Your Number Isn't Up before launching
into Hit The City (mark still, disappointingly, singing this one in
an easier and lower register than on record). No matter though, as
it was the only moment which wasn't excellent. Wedding Dress and Creeping
Coastline were moody, passionate and superb. Musically and vocally.
No Easy Action and Miracle have never sounded better, One Hundred
Days didn't affect me as much as it does on record, but was tight
and well-performed. Sideways… was faster than on record (but featured
the solo that Mark forced Brett to cut short in MK), One Way Street
seemed better on the last tour, but was still very good. Come To Me
was superb - Shelly Brown can really sing, despite what a few Lanegan
'fans' have said. It was electric. Brilliant. And beautiful. Resurrection
Song was a highlight too, forceful and impassioned. I'll Take Care
Of You was musically far more dynamic than the previous night, and
all the better for it - Mark really sounded like he meant every word.
Like Little Willie John was great, and Skeletal History was, once
again, a big highlight of the night - those riffs and the groove,
combined with that lyric and vocal, are immense. Mark's voice was
in excellent form. Meth Blues was loud, and the final 'rolling just
to keep on rolling, rolling just to keep on rolling, I don't wanna
leave this heaven so soon' had the whole crowd in awe at his nerve
to keep singing acappella after the band finished… very big cheer,
and then they were gone.
Returning quickly, they launched into Message To Mine, a welcome addition
to a setlist which was otherwise unchanged from the previous night,
before the seemingly de rigueur Sleep With Me, Pendulum and Fix ending…
(I would like to thank the pathetic train companies of Britain for
forcing me to leave shortly before Fix was finished. Bastards.)
Oh, and before the show, and acoustic guitar was tuned up by one of
the roadies - but it wasn't used (unless they played another ten songs
after Fix…………..)
Great show. Great sound. Great performance. Great rock n roll attitude…
Mark was on top form, more swaggering and enthusiastic (in his low
key way) than ever, and he looked as though he was A) enjoying himself
and B) had something to prove.
-Mokkly.
Setlist (same as MK, but with Message To Mine added)
When Your Number Isn't Up
Hit The City
Wedding Dress
Creeping Coastline
No Easy Action
Miracle
One Hundred Days
Sideways In Reverse
One Way Street
Come To Me
Resurrection Song
Driving Death Valley Blues
I'll Take Care Of You
Little Willie John
Skeletal History
Methamphetamine Blues
Encore:
Message To Mine.
Sleep With Me
Pendulum
Fix
review by Lara
To quote Lanegan as he and the band took their positions
on stage some three quarters of an hour late, "Good things are worth
waiting for" - fuck me, the man was telling no lie. We'd been waiting
months to see him in action, and by the day of the gig, were pretty
fraught with anticipation - waiting the extra 45 minutes for him was
like being a kid again, waiting impatiently for your parents to get
the hell out of bed on Christmas morning so you can open your presents.
In this case the presents came in the form of one of the most fantastic
gigs my partner and I have ever experienced. Lanegan did not disappoint.
I won't go into too much detail here as Mokkly has already given a
pretty spot-on review of most of the songs on the setlist. What I
will say is that I thoroughly enjoyed every single one. However, if
I was forced to choose my highlight of the evening it would have to
be the band's rendition of "Resurrection Song" which was simply out
of this world: intense, atmospheric, moody and totally mindblowing.
Although you could really apply all those adjectives to the whole
damn set. No disappointments, except for maybe "Hit the city" and
"Come to me" not quite doing it for me, but that's coming from someone
who's obsessed with PJ Harvey's voice and finds the combination of
hers and Lanegan's utter magic. Having said that though, I'm not knocking
Shelley Brown at all - she has a great voice and great stage presence.
The same goes for the rest of the band; despite not looking too happy
with themselves at times, they belted out some fucking brilliant music.
As for The Voice himself... Being a virgin to his solo gigs, having
only seen him perform with QOTSA, I wasn't sure how his voice was
going to carry live. When you sit at home with your headphones on
and those tones and diction come trickling down into your eardrums
like- fuck it, there's nothing to compare his voice to -you just wonder
if it's going to have the same effect live. I can now truely say,
yes, it sure does. Man, what a gifted set of vocal chords! His stage
presence was every bit as moody and "heavy" as I expected it to be,
although he thanked the crowd at the end of nearly every song. It
was such a pleasure to watch him swaying to the music and holding
that mike in his charateristic manner while belting out his songs.
Got a bit carried away with myself at one point and during a quiet
moment shouted out "We love you Mark!". Just as the embarrassing horror
of what I'd just done began to dawn on me, he answered back in that
low drawl of his with something like "We love you too guys" - the
memory of that moment is something that'll bring a smile to my face
for years to come.
Lanegan finally - and unfortunately - ambled off the stage when his
contribution to "Fix" came to an end but the band carried on jamming
for what seemed like ages. People started trickling out but I just
stayed rooted to the spot, totally elevated by the music. Was really
disappointed when the band finally disappeared as I could have listened
to them all night. As I started with a cliché, let me end with one:
"All good things must come to an end."
Now to wait until the next time he's in the UK.
Lara
London
review by Nila
It's all change here ...
New venue, new band, new Mark.
I was kind of hoping for the best but not really knowing what to expect
from the Carling Academy. It couldn't have worse sound than the Astoria,
and as much as that place holds a sentimental spot in my heart, it
was good to be somewhere different.
And it was fine - good size stage, lots of floor room, Grolsch if
you don't do Carling (or water if you don't drink either!), and you
don't have to queue in an alleyway. You queue in a shopping centre.
Must say hello to Terri & Keith who I met whilst waiting, so Hello!
Got let in, got to the front and stayed put. By the end of the night
the floor was so sticky that that almost became a long-term thing!
The Duke Spirit came on and played for about 30 minutes. They're not
bad, and the singer's got a good, strong voice, but it all got to
sounding a bit the same after a while, and the ear-splittingly-loud
feedback on almost every song didn't really help.
And we wait. After hearing about what happened at Milton Keynes (45
minute-delay anyone?) I was preparing myself for a long wait.
It wasn't that long a wait and oh my god it was worth it!
I don't remember exactly what got played when, but the highlights
for me were Hit the City, Creeping Coastline of Lights (such a beautiful
song), No Easy Action (much faster than on record), Message to Mine,
Fix (more about that later), Pendulum (I love that song) and Methamphetamine
Blues. The girl singing with them - I caught her name as Shelly Brown
- did a really good job, but I wish someone'd turn her mic up. She's
got a great voice when you can hear it and 'I'll do it Daddy' got
turned into something thoroughly suggestive and evil. I could hear
her on the backing parts on No Easy Action and she sings them really
well. She looked a little lost at times, but her part is turning into
a kind of Mark-with-QOTSA thing - on for a few songs then off again.
But Mark, oh Mark! He was on fine form and his voice was the most
strong and intense I've ever heard it. I remember an interview from
years ago where Mark joked that he 'normally had a little control
over his two-octave range', but the range and expressiveness both
seem to have expanded! How else to explain the soft ending to 'Methamphetamine
Blues' contrasting with the brutal kick in the guts of 'Skeletal History'?
It's the difference between purring and growling, and he does both
brilliantly. It's a voice that just gets better everytime I'm lucky
enough to see him play, and he gave his absolute all.
And he was almost, dare I say it, chatty. And he danced .... almost.
Honestly, I swear, those feet were moving very definitely in time
with the music when he was away from the mic and his fingers were
tapping the mic stand incessantly (that's a wonderful tattoo around
his right wrist). He actually looked happy, like playing this gig
might not be such a painful experience after all.
And then he goes and sings 'I'll Take Care of You', and, while there
may be some kind of double-entendre there, all I want to do is say
back, 'well, just keep making this incredible music, and you will
be'.
It's always a wrench when you know the show's coming to an end, but
as Methamphetmine Blues drifted away and everyone said goodbye and
wandered off, I was praying for more. One song .... just one song
.... please.
It's never enough .......
We got 4 songs. 4!
It all finally ended with an absolutely astonishing, psyched-out,
tidal-wave version of Fix. It's one of my favourite songs and I just
get kind of lost in it, like there's not really a crowd of people
around me, like it won't really end. I could listen to that song forever,
and it was, for me, the most perfect way to finish off the night.
Mark saying goodbye again was the signal that this was finally the
end, but the band played on into a huge psychedelic jam that was nothing
short of spectacular.
Mark left us with an outstretched hand that just made you want to
grab ahold and keep him there a little while longer and a soft goodbye
that felt like a blessing.
I left floating a mile in the sky, happy as a girl can possibly be.
Until next time ...........