Photos aus NYC
http://picasaweb.google.com/kokorelis/PaulWellerJan3107
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79021978@N00/sets/72157594507840659/detail/
Ein Photo fürs :liebe_2: (so weit sind Nat & Paul frisurentechnisch eigentlich nicht auseinander:lol: )
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p195/mrchalks/DCLee.jpg
Bericht und Photos
http://www.spin.com/paulweller/2007/02/070131_weller/
Auf Wellargh sind noch ein paar Youtube Videos
Fand ich einfach klasse, Bericht von einem alten Fan von der ersten NYC Nacht
I am 44 years old. The perfect age, I think. Well, perfect if you want to spend 30 years following Paul Weller through The Jam, The Style Council, The Council Collective, The Paul Weller Movement and just plain old Paul Weller [plus other noms’ de plume that escape me right now –oooh, John’s Boys – there’s another one. And who can forget John’s Boys covering ‘Reach Out, I’ll Be There’ at the Camden Palace]. Right from the definitively iconic Hammersmith Odeon show in ’77 supported by The Saints and, briefly, The Boys. Through the Modern World shows, All Mod Cons tour [trashing the seats at The Rainbow], the neon ‘Jam’ sign, Setting Sons tour – Jesus!! The Setting Sons tour… Burning Sky, Little Boy Soldiers, Thick As Thieves, – [also, making sure that all your friends had the ltd. edition ‘embossed’ Setting Sons sleeve; how else could they by any sort of proper fan?].
Then, Sound Affects, with crowd faves’ Pretty Green, Mondays and Boy About Town – these boys were completely flying: NME best Single/Band/Live Show/Hair. Funeral Pyre coming, seemingly – in Jam terms at least – from nowhere, then Absolute Beginners and instant ownership of all Colin MacInnes’ novels. And my first ever Cappucino.
Soon after that, it was the beginning of the end: A horn section at the Michael Sobell Centre. A HORN section!! Some fantastic new songs – Happy Together, Precious and everyone’s instant favourite: A Town Called Alice. Or, at least, that’s what I went out of the show singing to myself and telling my friends about. Not just a horn section, but a crew-cut and an Everlast T-Shirt – HELP!! Of course, by the second Sobell show, the next night, I’d got my hair cut changed from the ‘Marriott’ back-comb and side-sweep to a suitable crew-cut copy and the Parka had gone, replaced by tight jeans and a grey ‘T’. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so smug as when I went in to the show on that second night [getting there 2 hours before doors open] just to look at all the poor fools who only went to the second show, dressed entirely inappropriately. Suckers!!
Next up, the announcement of the split and the Tube TV appearance, Beat Surrender slams in at Number 1 and then the Five Wembley shows with Big Country supporting, Guilford Civic [biggest atmosphere of all, to my mind] and that final, weird, bottle-throwing-incident night at Brighton. Anyone that owns Paolo Hewitt’s Beat Concerto book will see me in the Brighton photo, between Weller and Buckler’s legs, to the right of the curly-haired Scotsman, with my hands on my cheeks.
Of course I’ve got millions’ more memories: getting into all those soundchecks, Weller falling backwards over his guitar lead at the Tuesday Wembley show and swinging his ‘Wham’ guitar around in a fit of fury, ermmm… aah, just too many memories – and I do apologise for the UK/London-centric views being expressed here – I’m sure you’ve all got similar non-London stuff that you can apply to my sentiments here…
And that was it for The Jam. Until last night.
Of course, I’ve seen stacks of Style Council shows and almost all the Paul Weller shows over the last 15 years [most recent ones being the 4 Forum shows plus The Roundhouse, Brighton and Poole. Poole!! What the F**k was that night all about?]
Luckily, I’ve got a friend working overt here in New York, and when the possibility of these shows came up, I instantly booked a bed at his place and a 200 quid plane ticket.
Leading up to the Irving Plaza shows, there had been various reports about the proposed setlists, but even the remotest possibility that Weller would do even a handful of Jam songs in a row was enough for me. I was in.
First was the instore at Virgin Megastore on Sunday afternoon. It was just Weller and Steve Craddock, and it was Ok. After he’d finished I immediately ring my closest Weller accomplice, Tom to report back. I tell him that Weller looked, and played, great. The only criticism I had, was that Weller was wearing green trousers. They just didn’t look good – awful in fact, and a little bit too short at the ankle. There was a slight pause over in the UK. Then Tom reminded me that he, himself, is always wearing green trousers, sometimes a little short at the ankle. I forgot: Tom’s a Paramedic – it’s his uniform…
‘Shopping’ was played, plus another half hour’s worth, but the highlight for me had to be acquiring Weller’s half-finished bottle of water, after they’d finished the short acoustic set. I’m now the proud owner of a plastic Brecon Spring bottle with some Weller-spit in it. Genius.
And so, to the first night at the Irving Plaza. A cheerful mix of local music industry-types, a few New York trendys’ and, most vocally of all, the hardcore, 40-something, English taxi drivers that follow him to every UK show and bounce around, hugging each other and singing at the very tops of their voices. Bliss, I tell you.
Sure, I’ve seen him do Thick As Thieves many, many times over the last few months. Shopping, I’d seen as recently as the day before. In The Crowd and Tales From The Riverbank have featured almost regularly over the past few years [although it still makes me cross that he insists on singing the ‘wrong’ lyrics to Riverbank – I still sing the original version and don’t see why he can’t, especially on a night like tonight].
Tonight, however, it’s different. Not just that I haven’t heard Carnation for over 25 years [still my favourite Jam song], and not just that he’s doing all these songs in a row. Tonight, on occasion, Paul Weller forgets himself; a rare thing indeed. Like at Brighton in 2002 when he acknowledged to the crowd that ‘yeah, if any of you were here 20 years ago, I know…’ referring to the very last Jam gig, almost 20 years ago, to the day.
Paul Weller never forgets himself; he’s known for it. It’s why, as far as we can make out, he’s [as my mate Gav puts it] ‘The last man standing’. What Gav means is, that from the classes of ’77, Weller is the only British artist left, still making credible, vital music.
Paul Weller refuses to look back. After all, he took the decision to disband the biggest band of it’s era at the tender, innocent, age of 22.
But tonight, like I said, it’s different.
‘Shopping’ is warmly received, but it was never exactly what anyone might call a good song. ‘Riverbank’ gets things going properly and the crowd lifts to the chorus especially. But it’s when he sits down at the piano, inviting us to ‘join in if you know the words’ that he hits the opening chords of ‘Carnation’ and the mood sharpens. Now we’re really in the right place at the right time. By the time we all get to ‘…and if you’re wondering by now, who I am, look no further than the mirror…’ it seems like the whole venue has become one, huge, voice, and the rafters begin to shake. Christ on a bike.
By the time the band has shuffled off-stage and he’s sitting down, acoustic in hand, the place is humming with expectation. Pretty much as one, we recognise the gentle opening chords to ‘English Rose’ and, all of a sudden, we’re back in ‘yeah, they left English Rose off the All Mod Cons’ label track-list because, like, he recorded it late, after the labels were already printed, and it’s a bit of a secret, not everybody knows it’s there – it’s about Gill, definitely’ heaven. So much heaven, in fact, that after he has strummed the final chord, Weller discreetly wipes tears away from both cheeks; like I say – tonight is different. Now we’ve got him, I know we have.
Now the whole crowd can join in, and with ‘Man In The Corner Shop’ we have the most perfect singalong, warming up to our alternative National Anthem – ‘That’s Entertainment’. By now, Weller is starting to move around with the same vitality and urgency he had in the late ‘70s; casting his head to his left in that jerky, impassioned expression of commitment to his lyrics; their importance; the connection. Strutting in a whirlwind of blurred, frantic guitaring, and the same, total, oblivion. By the time we get halfway through ‘In The Crowd’ he’s lost, in the same sort of frustrations of old. Ramming the top of his guitar into the speaker for maximum feedback and that same look of panic/confusion as way back when. No suit and tie, of course, but the look, and actions of that very same man. Fire and Skill, if you remember right.
And that was that – ‘that’s enough nostalgia for a bit’, he says, and it’s straight into ‘Floorboards’; possibly the first non-Jam, Jam song since Beat Surrender, and the perfect warm-down.
Then, back to the more regular Weller set we’ve come to know over the last few years, and then the freezing New York streets, Penn Station, and the Long Island Railroad home.
I’ve got a ticket for tonight’s Style Council-themed show and I’m hopeful for the third night too. Hopefully, he’ll do My Ever Changing Moods, maybe Paris Match and even Speak Like A Child. But, look, The Jam were, well, The Jam, and The Style Council, well, weren’t..
Lee 30th January 2007
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