setlist:
Robert solo:
I Can Do
He Lives My Life
River People
German Farmhouse
I've Been Looking For Somebody
with band:
Atlanta Lie Low
121
She Sang About Angels
Spring Rain
Maid Of The Loch
The Circle
Baby Stones
--
Danger in the Past
Lee Remick
Rock 'n' Roll Friend
Andrew Kerr's review:
A superb evening...my friend said 'I have never been to a happier gig'.
The posters said half the show acoustic, half with a band featuring members of Future Pilot AKA, National Park and Teenage Fanclub. As I no longer have my finger anywhere near the pulse of Glasgow's music scene, I am unable to say exactly who was there, but the band was drums, bass, keyboards and electric guitar with RF on acoustic and occasional performance art.
So RF clambers onto the stage alone looking kind of nervous. For those of you with an interest in his current fashion style, it was surprisingly sombre...white shirt and black trousers. The acoustic part featured (memory is a bit fuzzy this morning)
I Can Do
He Lives My Life
River People
Snake Skin Lady
German Farmhouse ("This is what happened in 1990")
I've Been Looking For Somebody
The first couple were a little shaky, with 'He Lives my Life' the guitar had gone wildly out of tune but then it all clicked. You could visibly see the expression on his face during 'River People'...hey this is good! 'German Farmhouse' works far better as a frantic acoustic strummer than the recorded version for me. And 'I've Been..' was incredible...A song that I've always liked, at the time of its release I thought that Morrisey should have recorded it.
He then looked around "There should be some people up here now" & the band joined him. As my friend said afterwards 'This is the band for him'. Its a bit of a shame if this is a total one-off, as they seemed so tuned into what RF does best. But that is what the posters (and the guitarist afterwards) said...If so, we at the 13th Note were the lucky ones.
Again not sure totally sure of the order, but this were the songs with the band. Before the first song, RF said "This is going to be interesting". Not sure how much rehearsal they all had, but it all seemed very tight and the band moved easily from the mellow C & W of 'Atlanta Lie Low' to rocking out (in the nicest possible manner) on '121'.
Atlanta Lie Low
121
She Sang About Angels
Spring Rain
The Circle
Spring Rain
Baby Stones
You'll Never Be Rich (think this was the title?)
Danger in the Past
Rock 'n' Roll Friend
Lee Remick
For 'The Circle' we got the full theatrics. The acoustic was ditched and the arm movements began. The highlight of the evening for me. And references to Paisley, East Kilbride, Cumbernauld and Inverness show a firm grasp of Scottish locations. On the other hand 'Danger in the Past' was surprisingly low key and Perth was not highlighted.
'Baby Stones' was introduced as "This is MY Apology Accepted" following an exchange with someone in the audience shouting for 'Apology Accepted'. He did say he could try it but "it would be fuckin' awful".
The new song, which he has been recording with Future Pilot AKA (called 'Maid of the Loch' in the 13th note magazine) was excellent. He sang it with eyes shut all the way through. Maybe he was just trying to remember the lyrics. A very moody piece. Out in April he said.
Enough !
Contentious time...I fail to see what RF gets out of playing with GM (artistically) anymore...I like GM's solo stuff as well, but to a large extent 'Rachel Worth' just feels like 1/2 a solo album from each of them. And live, give me the pure undiluted charisma of RF anytime !
Andrew
Thanks to Andrew for permission to use his review