6 November, 2004- Flex, Vienna, Austria
review by Birgit
It was one of the first unpleasant autumn days this year, I was a
bit tired from a hard working week, but at the same time full of anticipation.
As I had already seen MARK LANEGAN BAND in Berlin in August, I knew
I was in for a most extraordinary evening.
The concert took place at Flex; a moderately sized club located on
the waterfront of "Donaukanal", which can best be described as a branch
of the Danube. (I remember the time - many years ago when I was still
a student - when "Flex" used to have the reputation of being a notorious
"drug den" among the older generation. In those days any form of youth
culture was looked at with suspicion, by the way. There was a lot
of turmoil among the people living in the neighbourhood when the club
was to be transferred to its present location. Fortunately things
have changed since then!)
When I arrived at the club about half an hour before the official
beginning (45 minutes before the concert actually started), I was
surprised, but very satisfied to find the place already very crowded,
the more so because I had not seen a single promotion poster. (Mark
Lanegan fans and "Flex" regulars obviously rely on the internet as
their source of information.)
Still, there was some room on the stairs which are on the left side
close to the front and offer full view of the stage. (The ideal place
if you want to take photos!)
When the concert finally started, Mark Lanegan entered the stage with
a very brief "hello" - he is a man of few words, indeed ! -, grabbed
the microphone in his characteristic way and took the audience on
an electrifying 75-minute-trip to the highlights of his last four
albums.
What always amazes me when I listen to Mark Lanegan singing (live
or on CD) is the versatility, intensity and expressiveness of his
vibrant voice and how easily he adapts it to the different genres.
In my opinion, Mark Lanegan proved in an impressive way that he is
unrivaled in quality, no matter if he sings energetic powerful rock
songs (e.g. "Skeletal History", which is my favourite, "Hit the City",
"Sideways in Reverse" or "Metamphetamine Blues") or soulful ballads
like "I'll Take Care of You".
At any moment of the concert I had the impression that Mark identified
with (the lyrics of ) the songs to such a degree that he (almost)
felt what he was singing about, his voice vibrating with emotion.
(Just think of his stunning interpretation of "On Jesus' Program".)
The chemistry between the band members was very good - better than
in Berlin, I think - especially the performance of the guitarist was
outstanding. How excellent their sound was , could be heard during
the closing encore in particular: As soon as Mark had finished singing
and uttered a short "Thanks for being here tonight", he went offstage
and left it to the musicians to carry the show's final leg. They did
so in an impressive manner - very loud, very energetic rock - that
was highly appreciated by the audience. (Cool idea to finish the set
with a long instrumental part!)
When the concert ended I could not help thinking that Mark Lanegan
had paid heed to the old showbiz adage "Leave them wanting more"!
There were still so many songs I would have loved to hear, for instance
"One Hundred Days" or some of the very old "stuff"!
In spite of the fact that the show had been absolutely great, there
were some details that disappointed me a little:
- Number one was The Girl's solo (when Mark was offstage). Don't get
me wrong! The Girl certainly has her qualities as a backing vocalist,
but I simply would have preferred Mark's interpretation of the song.
- Secondly, the light conditions ( which were pretty much the same
as in Berlin) made it difficult for the audience to enjoy the visual
aspect of the show because for the majority of the evening you could
only see Mark's silhouette. The stage lighting at "Flex" concerts
is usually very good, so I assume it was Mark's wish to perform in
the dark.
Nevertheless it was not impossible to take photos because it was allowed
to use flashlight (or rather: Nobody stopped you when you did.)
When I was walking home after the concert - still in a state of euphoria
- a lot of thoughts came to my mind: how everyone had been carried
away by the music and the atmosphere right from the start and how
enthusiastic and emotional the response of the audience had been.
(During "Wedding Dress" a tough-looking man (tall, muscular, tattooed
all over, with a shaved head) standing next to me had been singing
along with moist eyes.) I also remembered how beautifully Mark had
sung "I promise you a miracle/ and it will be done" earlier that evening.
There was (and still is) no doubt that he and his band had kept that
promise!
review
by flow
The band took the stage at about 9pm facing a pretty much sold out
club(about 300 people). During the first three songs Mark seemed to
be pissed about something with the mic, which was replaced after the
second song. Anyway, the sound was excellent all through the show.
The setlist was pretty much the same as in previous shows, only featuiring
songs of the last three records. Nevertheless, Mark gave an outstanding
performance, his voice sounding better than ever. Personal highlight
was "On Jesus Program".
A note on Shelley: I personally can not understand previous comments
on her singing out of tune, at least tonight she hit every damn note
and gave a beautiful solo performance of "Strange Religion".
Great show, hope they'll be back soon.
Setlist:
Sideways In Reverse
When your number isn't up
Hit the city
Wedding dress
One way street
No easy action
Miracle
Like little willie john
Can't come down
Resurrection song
Come to me
On Jesus' program
Driving death valley blues
I'll take care of you
Skeletal history
Methamphetamine blues
Encore:
Blues for D
Strange religion (sung by Shelley)
Gospel Plow (on setlist but not played)
Fix
review by Csaba
I arrived to the venue after
a long traveling. I had not much trouble to find the place was pretty
close to metro station downtown. That was my first time to catch MLB
live.
They sold many tickets in presale, I hadn't seen any posters in town.
The timing was ok, the band started quite early after 9. The place
was packed and the crowd cheered as Mark and the Band took stage and
opened with the Sideways In Reverse. Next up came: When Your Number
Isn't Up- There wasn't a word between songs, or I don't remember much
except a few thank you very much.
Hit the City -Few lights. At my distance seemed like Brett's eyes
were shut all the time while he was playing.
Wedding Dress- Mark grabbed the mike and the stand the usual way stuck
a cigarette behind his ears. sounded great really great.
One Way Street- I looked around and some people were singin' along.
No Easy Action - very cool backing up ..and
the beat was amazing. Here I think I heard some Wah Wah guitar nice
ending...
Miracle- and then 2 songs from the new album.:
Like Little Willie John and Can't come down- very strong guitar parts
which kind of melted into the Resurrection Song.
Psychedelic swinging this song changed a lot in live I think and gave
you the feeling that you were somewhere out in the universe or rather
in (deep sea)
Come To Me- Here we heard more from Shelley
On Jesus Program- the tempo changed,.. for me this song has special
message.
There was an awsome -When this life is all over I am going home !
the crowd really appreciated..
Driving Death Valley Blues - Amazing!
I'll Take Care Of You - Sort of Atmosphere change.
Skeletal History - very good song in live too..
Methamphetamine Blues-Pure vocals at the ending "I don't want to leave
this heaven so soon"
Then they walked off stage so I joined to the Austrian( I mean German)
"we want more" The Band came back with encore:
Blues for D & Strange Religion -Shelley was singing alone beautiful
voice...
Message To Mine - Mark was back and the guitar sound seemed a bit
different
Fix- With the end of the vocal parts Mark left with a: See you next
time! and with a quick guitar change the psychedelic journey shot
us into the space again by Michael &others for a last time..the long
waving guitar solo sort of raised the memory of Hendrix or old Pink
Floyd's stuff. (At least for me)
Fantastic voice &great musicians. Some songs were played a little
bit faster which gave more dynamics to the performance.
The Band definitely sounded more electric in this set up, however
I am a great fun of Lanegan's acoustic materials, this show was a
pleasant surprise for me.
By the end of the show even the weather warmed up and started to rain.
Was nice to talk with Norm a little bit about music and would be good
to have a Budapest show with the next Europian tour.
( Thanks to Mat and Christina for a kind invitation..maybe next year..
I am gonna be there for sure...contact me:fishsoup@freemail.hu)