Loudon Wainwright III
at 'The Jazz Cafe', London
Thanks to Dave
Nicholson
for permission to reproduce
his brilliantly written reviews of both concerts, and to Caesar
Glebbeek for supplying the excellent photographs which were
taken during Monday night's show. (Photos © 2000 Caesar Glebbeek)
 Monday 24th July 2000
Loudo in top notch, mostly playful,
form for the first of a two-night return to London.
They spelled his name wrong again.
Missing the H between the G and the T. Surely a 'first'
- though Loudon later said from the stage: "I told them
to do that!" Apologised
that he had arrived too late to do a proper soundcheck. "
I was stuck on a train, so blame Richard Branson..."
25/26 songs with around a third
'new'. Full upstairs
balcony and around three-quarters full downstairs. (250-275-ish
at 18 pounds apiece). A fair guess that the bulk were committed
fans with only a small handful (including two of my colleagues)
seeing the great man for the first time, though they were familiar
with some of his mid-period material. Sorry about the stream
of consciousness report. The quotes may not be verbatim,
but you should get the drift...
1. "The Soundcheck Song". Just
30 seconds of Loudon clowning around with some typical tics and
licks. Almost started to sound like a real song rather
than a self-mocking piss-take while 'Dave' got the level. As
Loudon got the guitar level reduced: "Less is more - if
it's my guitar."
2. The Last Man On Earth.
First hearing for many of us - though the listers had been
well-primed. Succinct and wide-ranging with loads of gags
and sharp stuff too: "I'm the fifth Monkee" and "
they've nearly found a cure for cancer but still can't get a
trigger-lock." Strong feeling that Loudon is trying ironically
to paint himself as a dinosaur, but by the end of it we realise
it is we who are bound up with the paraphernalia of modern life
who are the real stuck-in-the-muds. Excellent opener from
the short-sleeved blue shirt with fine white chalk-line checks,
khaki chino and tan slip-on shoe wearing singer (Sorry Lindy,
couldn't see the socks from my lofty perch!)
3. Out Of Reach. What
really goes on when we say we will keep in touch but we don't
and our lives move on. Lots of lovely word-play - a telephone
call with a "Pinter pause" for example.
4. "Enough about me. How
about a song about all of us?" Loudon intro'd this
with his usual jibes about modern life - in particular the human
genome project. "Have you patented your gene bank yet"...Basically
a lyric about now being able to blame all the ills of the world,
not on bad behaviour, but on a lousy gene pool. Think he
said the title of this was '1994'.
5. The Shit Song. No
matter how hard we try we all still end up looking like shit.
How people lie when they meet "You look great"..."
You can look less shit by fitting a weaker bathroom lightbulb...."
 6. The Picture.
Nice jokey pause as he said "There are pictures on
the piano..." then glared at the empty piano, giggled and
restarted...
7. Anecdote about growing a beard
recently only to find it was completely white...just like his
father's. Nice way into what he described as a 'family
affair' song, entitled Surviving
Twin (I believe). "It's
a dad song. Yes there's some major daddage coming up...."
Anecdote about going to school reunion where both he and his
father had been educated and how "I was there for both of
us"... One of Loudon's tougher new outings.
Wanting, as an adolescent, to 'kill' his father "But how
can you murder someone in a way they don't die" then managing
to rhyme it neatly by singing "it would be suicide."
8. Missing You (?) "You
don't stay out any more..." Didn't really get this.
Was it a wistful look back at who he used to be and the
You is in fact Loudon?
9. In response to a crowd-call he
says he'll 'have a go at Screaming
Issue". Starts wrong key,
tries it slow, fast and slow again. False start then he
just gives up after about 30 seconds. Only Loudon can turn these
potentially embarrassing moments into a mini-highlight... "No,
it's just too hard for me to do any more ... I can't remember
it. But, you have my permission to go home and play it
to yourself again." Great laughs.
10. Neatly out of this awkwardness
with I Went To The
Doctor. He seemed pleasantly
surprised when the entire audience joined in. "You
rehearsed!"
11. Make Your Mother Mad.
Okay, you can't like everything, and after hearing this at last
year's Ronnie Scott gig it was worth another try, but it just
doesn't tap into the richest seams of Loudon's genius for me
and seems glib and off-hand by comparison with, say, IDTTYWLM
(which he performed later tonight). Essentially a gnarly
strut about the joys of dating a younger woman and making her
mother mad. Am I missing something great here?
12. Blink and you could have missed
the next - I reckon that Valentine's
Day checked in at around 60 seconds
only, or perhaps it was the sixth beer kicking in. A kind
of observation about the comedy of manners surrounding Feb 14th
rituals.
13. Primrose Hill. Nice
relaxed Loudo intro about how the vagrant who was presumably
the inspiration for the song, Andy 'Cat' Collins, now has a bench
in his honour on the hill.
14. Homeless. Almost
unbearably moving Loudon at his 'therapy-on-stage' best as he
tumbles his innards out about the death of his mother.
A few tears shed alongside me.
15. White Winos. How
can he turn this emotion into such humour laced with love?
One of the high points in the set for well over a year now. A
must for the next album.
16. I always forget this title,
"Colder than a
witch's tit..." Laughs in
all the right places and feeling that Loudon was firmly hitting
his stride... Then a whole slew of familiar faves, many
in direct compliant response to a clearly adoring fan gathering.
There was no-one to win over. We were won when he
begun.
17. Unhappy Anniversary
18. Westchester County
19. He Said She Said
 20. Over
to the piano for just a single song, Red Guitar. Lots
of slightly-changed phrasing though the tempo remained as ever.
It's easy to forget the brilliance of those first three
albums, but hearing this brings it all back. There's no
doubt that this guitar really was smashed and burnt. But
that real event is transformed into an emotion-racked poignant
metaphor for his own emotional disintegration and regret. I'd
forgotten how powerful this song was.
21. "I don't think that your wife likes me" was called from the floor, evoking playful
Loudon's most mocking stare. Loads of laughs. We
were putty and he knew it. "I don't know if I can
remember it, but I'll try". He really turned on the
heat and histrionics for this. Great fun. "I think
I'll put that back into the repertoire"
22. April Fool's Day Morn,
in response to yet another good-natured request. A penultimate
verse stumble and near-repeat was corrected and soon back on
track.
23. Things. Another
new song, I believe. When he speaks he may lie, but, just as
we always suspected, when it's in a song, it's the truth.
ENCORE:
24. Surfing Queen. Just as
bad taste and riotous as ever. Responding to an audience
question: "I'm working on a new album". Cheers
from all the listers. Then typical Loudo self-deprecation.
"Now I've gotta get a new record company. I've
been dropped so often, there must be another one out there. Disbelief
from my mates who can't understand how Loudo can't get a record
company to stick with him.
25. Five Years Old. As
tender as ever.
26. Bed. Which is where
I'm going right now. A great night - and more tomorrow.
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Courtesy of a friend of Linda's (Hi
Felicia :-),
a misspelled ticket for a recent
U.S concert |
Tuesday
25th July 2000 Review
by Dave
Nicholson
Dog tired, so not such long notes
tonight.
1. It Had To Be Her. Great
lines: "Love is a lesson" echoed later by "love
is a lesion" "It's a jungle out there - it's
a desert in here."
2. Last Man On Earth. Fast
becoming a standout in the repertoire. Much more staying
power in this than his usual topical stuff which can reach its
sell-by within a few months. I guess he'll still be playing
this in five years unlike nearly everything from the Social Studies
set.
3. Make Your Mother Mad.
4. Primrose Hill. This
time he confirmed that he couldn't be certain that the song was
about celebrated local vagrant Cat Collins, but he assumed that
this was the person he had seen and been inspired to write this.
5. Being A Dad.
6. Four Mirrors. This relatively
minor track on History really came alive for me tonight, thanks
to Loudon's explanation. Written at a time when he was
living in the same Upper/Lower (?) West Side apartment where
his father had spent the last 20 years of his life. He
recalled his father telling him about his relationship, or lack
of it, with his own father (Loudon's grandfather). The
grandfather died aged 44 when Loudon Jr was just 17, 'so my father
never really got to say "Fuck you" to him - which is
such an important thing!' Later when Loudon's father was
37 years old he was driving in a New York snowstorm and looked
into the rear-view mirror and saw his father sitting on the back
seat. He turned and reached for him even though he realised
that this was a hallucination.
7. Surviving Twin. 'Just
to make sure that the beat goes on...here's the latest instalment
of my 'dad thing'." He re-told previous night's story about
the 35th school reunion which he attended last month.
8. Westchester County.
9. I'm All Right.
10. Keep In Touch.
11. You Don't Wanna Know.
See, Caesar, I remembered the title this time. Also
I met Caesar - and Debbie - for the first time. Missed
Lindy though!
12. Unhappy Anniversary.
13. I Suppose That I Could Love You.
A fine Loudon moment during this song on which he completely
stalled after around a minute - and got going again nicely with
some loving help and encouragement from the audience. He
must've been concentrating hard on remembering the words rather
than their meaning because he was the last one to get the joke
when he came to the line about his memory failing. A slow
smile crept across his face as he did a quick double-take. Very
funny - it can't be often that he's the last one in the room
to get the joke.
14. 1994.
15. IDTTYWLM.
16. New Street People. A
request following a nice balcony scene with a female fan. However,
he stopped halfway through this one too, saying he couldn't remember
the words. But, tellingly, he added that it wasn't a very important
song...
17. White Winos.
18. Homeless.
19. Red Guitar on the piano.
20. Between.
21. The Acid Song. Delivered
almost as a gift "I don't do this song very often, you know."
ENCORE:
22. Missing You.
23. School Days.
24. April Fools Day Morn.
25. A Father And Son.
Another excellent evening. Monday
night slightly shaded it for emotional intensity, but tonight's
humour quotient was a tad higher. BTW, thanks for the corrections
on the titles I don't always get word perfect.
Goodnight
Dave Nick
Bromley UK
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