After the best part of a half century as a recording artist, the force of nature that is Paul Weller is back on the road, this time promoting the forthcoming new album ‘66’, which is the age he is on the cusp of turning in May. For this evening’s show, the delightful Grade II listed Victoria Hall played host to the assembling middle age Modfather mob, ready to pay homage to the master changing man.
Providing support were Brighton based Barbara, led by Tydeman brothers John, the front man and Henry on keys. Taking on influences such as The Divine Comedy and ELO, the sharp suited five piece set about the Stoke crowd with their theatrical and quirky pop, including vocal harmonies aplenty. There were also playful attempts to invoke a crowd wave along during ‘Rainy Days In June’ to mixed success, while later in the set they moved into Randy Newman territory with the plinky plonky ‘Don’t Send Me Messages’. Clearly wearing their influences on their sleeves, Barbara do not take themselves too seriously, and had set a relaxed mood for the main event.
With so much back catalogue to work through, and an imminent new album for release, it was interesting to see what could be squeezed into the two hours Weller and his Woking 6- a-side team had to play with. Starting it off was the rousing ‘Rip The Pages Up’, followed closely by a couple of Bowie influenced numbers, namely ‘Nova’ and then ‘Cosmic Fringes’, which also has a hearty nod of the hat to Ian Dury.
Next up was one from the forthcoming album, ‘Soul Wandering’ (yet more Bowie saluting here) before launching into the first of the Style Council tracks, ‘A Man Of A Great Promise’, a winner with the slightly sweaty hordes. At this point Weller slows things down with the acoustic led ‘All The Pictures On The Wall’, a changing of tempo that would occur throughout the night’s proceedings.
After an airing of ‘That Pleasure’ from previous long player ‘Fat Pop’, Weller takes his place at the keys and launches into the crowd pleasing ‘Stanley Road’, all the while aided by the saxophone accompaniment of Jacko Peake, which raises the energy levels up a notch or two. The next couple of tracks are from Weller’s recent repertoire, including the chugger ‘Village’, sounding better live than the studio version, and then the super-slo-mo-part-Blur-part-Bowie-esque ‘Fat Pop’ itself.
This is about the halfway stage, and with the majority of tracks being from recent years, the crowd are itching for a stream of classics, the first of which is introduced by guitarist and Dadrock purveyor-in-chief, Steve Cradock, as ‘a f***ing banger’, is the majestic and evergreen ‘Hung Up’. The momentum is maintained with the stylish ‘Shout To The Top’, a definite highlight to this entertainment which is then followed by a rapidly departing Weller from the stage – not to check on the potential status down in the tube station at midnight but in fact, for a call of nature! When you’re one of the top songwriters of the last 5 decades and you’ve almost reached retirement age, and you gotta go, well, then you gotta go…
Up to this point, Weller hadn’t communicated a great deal between songs, but upon completion of this brazen Britpop bio-break, it is announced that we will resume with a new track, co-written with some fella you may have heard of called Noel Gallagher, the upbeat stomper ‘Jumble Queen’.
Keyboard duties are then swiftly resumed and with a dropping of tempo we are treated to the gorgeous ‘You Do Something To Me’. Throughout the whole show, it has to be said that both Weller’s energy levels and vocals have been of the highest standard, and this has been very much consolidated by his fellow musicians, who provide the perfect backing, none more so than with the arrival of the first Jam song of the evening, the peerless state of the nation address ‘That’s Entertainment’. A supreme track that is raucously welcomed, even those on the balcony rattled their jewellery to this one, a trick that was aptly repeated for the George Harrison riff rip ‘Start!’. Weller, evidently strutting his stuff by this point, continued in a similar vein, concluding the initial set with one of his early classic solo songs ‘Peacock Suit’.
Phew! A brief pause was required after all that, to watch phones and think about our holidays and then it was back to it, with the double header of more early solo material in the form of the reflective ‘Wild Wood’ and soul ballad ‘Broken Stones’. Again, Weller’s voice sounds astonishing after all this time and without saying much between songs, he edgily prowls the stage, in charge of all he sees before him. This section is completed with one more intergalactic acknowledgement to Bowie (and why not?), the cosmos closer ‘Rockets’.
One final pause and then one final class war cause, with the Motown inspired, organ overloaded, ‘Town Called Malice’, which to say goes down a storm is an understatement, inducing an ultimate sing and stomp along. Unquestionably, a fitting end to a performance that covers such a comprehensive auditory arsenal, that was delivered in the changing man style and left the audience Well stoked.
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