 |
| |
|
| |
Live Review
by SashaS
3-12-2004
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Mark Lanegan Band: mystery deepens |
|
Live: Mark Lanegan
Astoria, London
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Mark Lanegan: imagery without frontiers
In total opposition to the age of celebrity we live in, tonight is more like a 'Twilight Zone'. Visually speaking, musically - it was the doors of perception opened wide and far into a distance, over the 'Vanishing Point'…
Mark Lanegan fronts his sextet of helpers on a stage in an ambient illumination. That‘s the polite way of saying - it is bloody dark, a semi-gloom that makes members mainly silhouettes on a backdrop of (usually) blue light. It adds to the mystique of this artist and we know how little there is left in this world where nudity - spiritual, emotional, actual - is snapped up like carrot cakes.
Mark Lanegan doesn’t need any of the aids of the modern publicity because his songs speak volumes. Mostly dark, on the verge of gothic, bluesy and aching like only a man weighed down with life experiences knows. Drummer and keyboardist keep the backline of the band while the front is occupied by two guitarists, a bassist and a female vocalist.
They all help him to weave the magic sonic yarn taking one in with a force and magnetism that is hardly dispensed these days. Mr Lanegan’s music speaks volumes although he remains curiously detached: during instrumental breaks and some are longish and country-rock-funky with singer patiently standing near the rostrum, either drinking water or smoking his ciggies.
Languid and sprawling songs are delivered in a jagged baritone are succeeded by angry rockers and cosmically panoramic tracks that float like stoners’ imagery, followed with a blues cut… This man speaks all musical dialects, from Brel to Beefheart, from The Doors to folk, from jazz to Zappa…
Lanegan’s oeuvre is getting substantial and material from the current ‘Bubblegum’ album is sparsely supported by a back-catalogue selection. Songs, such as ‘When Your Number Isn’t Up’, ‘Driving Death Valley Blues’, ‘Hit The City’ [current single], take one through deserts and canyons of romantic torment, down valleys and over the peaks of emotions, moving you internally, externally and every which way while doing very little physically. The man even avoids addressing the crowd and yet he is a compelling performer…
From a grunge rocker with The Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan has evolved into an astonishing songwriter who’s developed strong style that certainly positions him amidst an elite, standing on the shoulders of giants of the most individual ilk: Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Nick Cave…
Several hours earlier, reading the Standard, as every Londoner should, we noticed that the entertainment editor considered the Pick of The Day’s shows to be - Westlife, McFly and Natasha Bedingfield’s pop-revue travesty ‘Christmas in Popworld’ at Wembley Arena. It almost made us choke on asparagus and Stilton pizza because there was only one high spot tonight - the lean, serene and mean [short set!] Mark Lanegan Band’s date [final on the current tour]. Majestically serious ‘fun’…
After seeing Waits, Cave and Lanegan within a month - there hardly could be any need to go to shows anymore... For a fair while.
SashaS
3-12-2004
Mark Lanegan Band's album 'Bubblegum' is available now on Beggars Banquet
|
|
|
