- Loudon
Wainwright III
- at
the Neptune Theatre,
Liverpool, England
- Sunday
7th November '99
-
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Hey, it's only five months since
my last Loudon concert review, yet somehow I needed this 'Loudon
Fix' so badly. The last three times that I've seen him,
have been in Dublin, London and Belfast, so I thought I'd try
Liverpool this time. Actually the real reason I travelled over
here was that I've always had this ambition to go to a Loudon
Wainwight concert with Linda (Lindylu3), Loudon's number one
fan.
True to form, Linda was introducing
another new recruit to his music, her 11 year old daughter Jenny
(so Loudon owes her 'MEGA bigtime';-)).
Off we went, each with our Y2K
badges, me wearing |
- Loudon
in concert (Leeds '97)
- (Photo courtesy of
Linda)
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Linda's prized 1987 LW3
official tour T Shirt (a real honour), Linda wearing one I designed
for her, and Jenny with another specially created design - a
picture of Loudon, with the words 'LW3 - the Next Generation.
Jenny's very first Loudon Wainwright III concert!!!
Even though there were three
list members at the concert, the 'job' of documenting it was
unceremoniously dumped onto me. Guess someone's gotta do,
though scribbling very brief notes in total darkness, and trusting
the rest to memory sure don't get any easier, even fourth time
round.
Just after eight, Martha Wainwright
walked onstage. I suppose I'd better start a new trend
and list *her* clothes too. Tight red long-sleeved top,
a shortish black skirt which seemed to have an identical split
up both sides and orange socks!
She seemed quite nervous (well,
I thought so anyway). She sang about 8 or 9 songs, finishing
with 'Year of the Dragon' from the 'McGarrigle Hour', which she
said was about the year 1976, when she was born. A few
songs earlier, she sang one about Christmas, referring to the
other Wainwrights and how they spent it (Rufus with Mom, having
a party for his friends, Dad with Lucy in New York - 'probably
thinking about Tracy'). Occasionally there were slight
Loudo mannerisms. At least one leg lift. Also, during
some of the guitar instrumental breaks she would tip her head
right back for a few seconds at a time, just like Dad.
The LWIII concert itself was
marred almost throughout by the loutish of four burly 'scouse'
drunks in their 40's or 50's who had front row seats in the centre
front stalls, just to the right of where we were sitting, and
who scarcely shut up all night. People were giving them
very dirty looks all evening. Loudon did eveything he could,
short of actually swearing at them. I doubt whether it
would have made any difference anyway - they were so sozzled,
they were impervious to ANY words. They should have been thrown
out by a bouncer.
Why do people like that even
bother attending concerts? And how come 'ligs' like that
always get the front row? Talk about a replay of the drunks
at Ronnie Scott's. Having been to that show as well, I
can assure you that this was easily ten times worse. If
any of those four are reading this review, you should be absolutely
ashamed of your 'behaviour'.
On with the review . . .
Just after 9pm, Loudon walked
onstage to loud(o) applause, and went straight into . . .
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1. |
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What Gives? - easily the most appropriate song for
his Liverpool concert, with the references to the Beatles, Gerry
(and his Pacemaker ;-)), and about being washed up on the "Mersey
shore". |
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2. |
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Grown Man
- followed (included the first 'leg
lift'). Wasn't one of my favourite songs initially, but,
if you excuse the pun, it really has 'grown' on me, and I know
think it's one of his best songs. After a wonderful ;-)
'tuning session' we got . . . |
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3. |
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So Damm Happy - with a kind of singalong, encouraging us to go
'na,na,na' etc along with the instrumental break.
Nearly forgot the clothes notes.
White shirt, grey braces and grey trousers (for US readers,
that's grey suspenders and grey pants). It was impossible
to see his socks, since the trouser legs were too long, even
partly covering his brown shoes, but Linda later confided to
me that they were black and white stripes. Said she noticed
them whenever he lifted his leg. Linda, by the way, was
the very first person to mention the colour of Loudo's socks
in a posting to the list. It's these sort of essential
details that make for interesting reading. Anyone have
notes on his undies? ;-))))
Better get back to the music
notes!! |
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4. |
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Suddenly It's
Christmas - Well, it
just HAD to be included. It was followed immediately by
. . . |
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5. |
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Conspiracies - The one about "you know who",
which Jen found very funny. The end was ruined byone of
the drunks. Just as Loudon paused before saying the final
words, one of the drunks yelled out "Santa Claus" at
the top of his voice. Loudon was not pleased!!!
For a few moments, he seemed
to be about to follow it with 'Christmas Morning', but then changed
tack and started talkin' about dear ole Tonya Harding. Mentioned
the Lillehammer, like, 'hammer' connection, and said she had
recently made a comeback and he happened to see a picture of
her in a little skirt with what he claimed had a little 'holster'
- for her hammer. Not sure *what* he was on about. Anyway
. . . |
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6. |
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Tonya's Twirls - It's one of my favourites, since first
hearing it at a 1995 concert in Belfast. He said it was
from his new CD 'Social Studies' and that he had "crates
of them outside in the lobby to flog and sign". Said
they "make great drinks coasters. Buy six and protect your
table". |
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7. |
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4 x 10 - One of
my all-time favourite songs from the History CD. He stopped after
two lines because of two of the drunks clicking their fingers
to it. He gave then a very hard look, said "I can
do without that, thank you", then began from the start of
the song again. As it finished, one of the drunks yelled
"you're the man" - Loudon replying, "I know, that's
why I had to chastise you". |
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8. |
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Bed - An 'unrecorded' song that he has been
playing at concerts for just over a year now. Has the memmorable
line "Who cam say what we just did / Made some whoopee or
a kid".
Next the "song about Phone sex" . . . |
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9. |
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Number One - a great version, then Loudon said
he'd "raise the 'level' because there were a number of children
in the audience", adding "one of them's mine"
(referring to Martha).
The most obvious song (with the
line 'Happy Birthday Martha') followed . . . |
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10. |
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Five Years Old - Another all-time favourite of mine.
The 'obnoxious drunks' were still constantly yelling for
'Primrose Hill' and 'Housework' between *every* song. It
was very obvious that Loudon was getting fed up with them. Ignoring
them, he said that he "received a note backstage, requesting
'Bein' A Dad' for 9 year old Benjeman Marsh", so that's
what he played next . . . |
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11. |
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Being A Dad - The drunks kept yelling for their
requested songs. Totally ignoring them, he played the beautiful
. . . |
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12. |
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Homeless - An absolute classic song - this has
*gotta* be on the next CD. Before 'White Winos' came along,
'Homeless' seemed to be the most mentioned 'unrecorded song'
on the 'Mailing list'. Then Martha came onstage, for the
next five songs. |
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13. |
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You Never
Phone - Performed as
a kind of pouting / comedy number. As the song finished,
the Drunk yelled "You're beautiful my lady", and LW
glared over (certainly not good humouredly) and said "Hey,
watch your mouth".
Loudon decided to tell an anecdote
about some concert he did in the Virgin Islands. Martha
was with him, but at 14, not singing yet. He went to this
town to do a show and discovered that the audience was mainly
made up of sailors who had been away from port for about 6 months.
Naturally he was again interrupted by the Drunk, who yelled,
"I'm a sailor". Loudon grinned (more like glared)
and said, "somehow I kinda knew that". Loudon
tried to to continue the story, "well the audience was full
of DRUNKEN ASSHOLES" (a line that got great applause from
everyone). It didn't bother the drunk, who carried on shouting.
Loudon added "behave yourself, or there'll be no autographs
when you buy your CD". Eventually, we got back to
the music, with Martha and 'Loud' duetting on . . . |
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14. |
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Father / Daughter
Dialogue - A beautiful
version, with Martha acting all coy and 'little girlish' as she
sang "Dearest Daddy".
Next, came THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW - the 'Song For Linda' ;-))) Several times
she's asked Loudon to play 'Come A Long Way'. First time
was February '99 in Massachusetts - he said he'd have to relearn
the song. When I mentioned Linda's name in June (after
the Ronnie Scott's gig) he recalled being asked by Linda about
the song, then at LA (in September), she mentioned it again,
and told him she'd see him in Liverpool in 6 weeks time.
For those who are wondering,
it's not a song which Linda wrote (!). It's a 1973 song
which was written by ex-wife Kate McGarrigle and was on the 'Attempted
Mustache' album.
When Loudon began to talk about
the next song, saying it was from 1973, and "Martha and
I had just finished rehearsing it", I just knew it was coming
next. As the opening jangling chords of this beautiful
song were played Linda and I exchanged looks of delight. I
looked at her again during the song and there was a big smile
on her face. Her Guy!!! |
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15. |
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Come A Long Way - How about that folks! An extremely
rarely played song, relearned, rehearsed, and arranged in two
part harmony - just for Linda!!! It was a truly magical
occasion. As the song finished and the audience gave it
a great response, Loudon said "That's for Linda, that one".
Time for a 'plug' for 'The McGarrigle Hour' CD, which "features
a lot of my family members. Here's the song I wrote on
it" and he played . . . |
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17. |
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Green Green Rocky
Road - was the last of
the 5 songs with Martha, a jaunty little song which I had not
played live before. Unfortunately it was pretty well ruined by
two of the Scouse drunks, who VERY loudly clapped ALL through
the song, drowning out Martha's verses. Martha then left
the stage so that Loudo could sing about the time he hit her
;-)) - |
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18. |
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Hitting You - then someone in another part of the hall yelled
out about the "world being a bundle of shit". Loudon
took the quite subtle (!) hint, and played . . . |
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19. |
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The World - with a guitar backing. Last
time he played this in Dublin (2 years ago) it was with the ole
ukelele.
Next, an unrecorded song which
I'd never heard live (only on a 'tape' ;-)) . . . |
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20. |
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So Good So
Far - the very humourous
ditty written about his guitar - how it's stuck by him no matter
how badly it's been treated by him. Lots of laughter as
it includes (apparently) the first notes he ever learned - the
theme to the 'Third Man'.
Then, he finally gave in to the
yells from the 'main drunk', and played his request ('Primrose
Hill'). If it had been me, I'd certainly not have done
so. |
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21. |
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Primrose Hill - Loudon had just played the first line
when he stopped and took a swig from a bottle of Heineken on
the the table beside him. Began it again, following with
. . . |
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22. |
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White Winos - Loudon remarked "that's what
happens when I drink my beer. I start to sing alcohol songs".
It was a great version, of what has been the most talked
about 'unrecorded song' in recent posts. It must be a 'cert'
for the next album, emmm, CD.
Loudon then talked about travelling
from Newark (the previous night's gig) and had seen the 'Magical
Mystery Tour' bus as he arrived in Liverpool that afternoon (I
had been on the tour the previous day). He said he'd also
been reading the paper about the news item that "John Lennon
had been voted the best songwriter of the Millennium (past 1000
years)". Ruefully joking that he hadn't figured anywhere
in the poll, he said that "since he was here in Liverpool,
this song was such an appropriate one to sing." He
added that he was "just down the block at a recording studio
when that awful event happened." |
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23. |
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Not John - This was a very moving performance
of a quite rarely performed song. With that, he left the
stage to great applause, but was soon back for the encore.
First of these songs was a totally
new one. No idea of the idea, couldn't even make a guess
at it. Only lines I remember were 'when I say I love you'
and 'when I sing I love you.' Oh well . . . |
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24. |
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Things -
A brand new, unrecorded song. Martha skipped back
onto the stage for a rousing singalong of 'Dead Skunk', Loudon
urging everyone to "clap you hands". |
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25. |
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Dead Skunk - Loudon introduced the next one saying
it was written by Kate in 1971. 'The Drunk' awoke out of
his stupour to yell "I was two then". Loudo grinned
(through his teeth???) and said "All of a sudden I kind
of like you - just the thought of you in a nappy full of shit".
Nice one Loudo!!! |
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26. |
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Old Paint - Again, another nice duet with Martha.
And that was all folks. |
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We filed into the Foyer
and Loudon was already there, chatting and signing CDs. He asked
is there a table or something to sign them on? None was produced,
so I went back into the theatre and grabbed his 'drinks table'
from the stage and brought it back for him. I think he
was pleased. By that time Martha had also arrived and quite
a few people were chatting to her.
Loudon looked up and saw Linda
and said "Hi Linda, I sang your song for you". Linda
smiled back at him happily. This was my second time of
meeting the 'ole Loudo' - but he seemed less chatty, more distant. |
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- 'Iron
Horse', Mass. ('97)
(Photo courtesy of Linda)
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Both Linda and I thought
he really didn't want to be there, that the CONSTANT heckling
had really annoyed him. Someone asked about the Y2K single,
where would you get it? Loudon (surprising?) immediately
suggested the Internet. I think he might be a phantom 'lurker',
travelling with a laptop in his suitcase.
I asked him whether he was doing
any TV / Radio. He said no TV, but mentioned recording
the Andy Kershaw session on 22nd November. Also mentioned a radio
session in Dublin, then seemed to backtrack, that he'd decided
not to do that one.
He was just about to go, so I
said to him that line I always meant to say to him. "The
List sent me". He repeated the words "The LIST?",
very solemnly, grinned, and then he was away.
Probably though I was 'some nut'.
Probably right too!!!
- 'What the
hell / What the heck'
- (from the Suicide
song by Loudon Wainwright III)
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