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Made in Shoreditch

I also contribute a weekly column to Made in Shoreditch magazine called 'Old East End/New East End', where I look at the relationship between the East End of old and new, looking at the changes and the stalwarts in landscape, residents and culture, focussing on one street or district each week. You can find it here.

Keep Revenue & Customs Satisfied - Happy Mondays @ The Roundhouse, Camden

Saturday 29 December 2012

Contrary to the previous night at the Hammersmith Apollo, The Happy Mondays were in fine form at Camden's Roundhouse last Thursday performing a storming set. Kicking straight off with 'Hallelujah', the Manchester party animals went straight for the jugular, careening their way through their majestic back catalogue.

Modern Day Mondays

Shaun Ryder moves around even less than he did before, but this did not detract from the band rolling back the years and creating a proper Christmas carnival. The gobbledygook artistry of Ryder's lyrics could just be made out through his nasal Manchester drawl with his slight slur (brought on no doubt by years of inebriation) evident and indeed adding to the pageantry of it all. Bez danced on a handful of the songs played, seemingly no longer able to do the full set now that he's not bacchanalian and mashed from MDMA mortification. The band sounded tight and together, with Paul Ryder's funk style bass cutting through the house tinged grooves and distorted, loose guitar phrases perfectly - abetted by the encompassing acoustics of one of London's best venues.

The Mondays played to their strengths throughout the gig. Rowetta, in fine fettle and voice, wore a fantastic Mrs. Claus suit and Ryder stood almost immobile to create a great visual against all of the motion around him. Dedicating one track (I cannot remember which one exactly) to "the good people at Customs and Excise" and ironically calling Bez a "slim, good looking, handsome coont", Shaun Ryder played the working class jester adeptly between songs and kept the crowd engaged.

Bez and Shaun Ryder in their pomp

An inspired version of '24 Hour Party People' brought the house down and had the crowd raving like it was 1989 once more. The Mondays worked the audience perfectly and the night was a true success. Encoring with 'Step On' - Rowetta once again showing her voice still holds up on the "he's gonna step on you again" parts - was the only way to go and once finished the band left in an almost seraphic manner, clearly far more sober than they once were.

Keep the Customers Satisfied! Paul Weller @ Hammersmith Apollo

Friday 28 December 2012

Last Wednesday I saw Paul Weller headline the Crisis charity's Christmas benefit gig at the Hammersmith Apollo. As I gaily anticipated the evening's festivities in The Swan pub just up the road from the venue and mulled over what he might play, what he might omit and what he should play in my head I could not have expected such a listless set list as the one which was to come.

Indeed, I had been forewarned by a couple of people that he would more than likely pack the set heavily with new material, but I could not have foreseen how much of that stuff he would throw in (or how badly it translates live). Weller started the set with the frankly retroactive 'From the Floorboard's Up' from 2005's As is Now in emphatic fashion with gusto and energy in equal measure, leading to a joyous, high octane response from the rather large audience in the West London auditorium. Having done so he raised my expectancy of the evening's potential tenfold and for a little while I was still full of that same hopeful postulation until we got about three quarters of the way through.

As I nipped out for a cheeky cigarette with my brother, I assured him that Weller was sure to play his older, and bluntly better, material in the second half of the gig and so now was a good time for a smoke (this was roughly halfway through). Oh, how we looked forward to hearing 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight' from the Jam period of his career and something from Stanley Road and even a Style Council number might go down well we thought, but alas it wasn't to be.

Weller

As we resumed, Woking's most famous son cranked out a thumping rendition of 'Strange Town' and lifted those of us in the upper seating enclosure to our feet to dance. A rapturous, emotive applause went up at the song's summit, leading me to believe we would surely be treated to more of the same now that we had endured a load of sprawling self-indulgence from 22 Dreams and Sonic Kicks. As it was we got another half-hour or so of the new stuff before The Modfather exited stage left. During the encore we had to endure Emeli Sande for a duet and then, finally, we got a decent rendition of 'That's Entertainment' with Bradley Wiggins rather needlessly helping out on rhythm (he's a better cyclist than guitarist) and, of course, as is his wont these days, getting his mug in for some attention and milking the summer of 2012 for all it's worth.

My overall feeling at the end of the gig was one of indifference to what I had just seen. Paul Weller seemingly doesn't know how to keep a paying audience engaged. Looking downwards into his Telecaster and riffing against a backdrop of Dadrock soul instead of firing into a few classics and giving his fans a good time is not how to do it. By all means play some new stuff, but remember where your bread is buttered and keep the customers satisfied.