A Sense of Doubt blog post #3502 - Going to PAUL WELLER tonight!!
I am off to see Paul Weller in concert for the first time.
I am very excited. This is a HUGE milestone for me.
This is it.
His set is interesting. There's songs in it that I do not know well. I am hoping for some surprises.
I am doing this because my Dad died. I may not be doing it if he had not.
Thanks for tuning in.
Here's all my PAUL WELLER relate posts:
It’s not often these days that I go to a show and I am one of the younger people in the crowd. But that was the case last week when the indomitable Paul Weller performed at the Lincoln Theater. Weller — The Modfather, The Changingman, The Cool Before the Warm, The Calm After the Storm — was touring the US for the first time in seven years and had a backlog of new material to promote.
Since his last US tour in 2017, he’s released four albums — 2018’s True Meanings, 2020’s On Sunset, 2021’s Fat Pop, and this year’s 66.
At the Lincoln Theatre in DC on Sept. 11, Weller touched on the latter three albums over the course of his massive 30-song set, while sprinkling in songs from throughout his career. The crowd, full of men with gray hair (which includes me, not throwing any stones here), seemed up for his work with The Jam and the Style Council more than his solo work, which surprised me. “My Ever Changing Moods” was played early in the set and had the entire crowd on their feet. They were still standing a few songs later when he dropped “Headstart for Happiness.” Fans of The Jam were satiated by “Start” late in the set and the 1-2 show-closing punch of “That’s Entertainment” and “Town Called Malice.”
I tend to favor Weller’s solo work as that was my gateway into his oeuvre. At 17 albums (!!!), it is easily his longest and deepest collection of songs. And his work rate churns out a new album every few years. So if you, like me, didn’t vibe with Fat Pop, just wait a bit and a new album will be out and you can try again. I have recently reconnected with 1992’s Stanley Road so I was thrilled when he played the title track and “Porcelain Gods” in addition to setlist staple “Broken Stones” and “The Changingman.”
I suppose if you were to lay any criticism on this performance, it would be that the set was filled with mid-tempo, contemplative songs but those are specifically the type of Weller songs I adore so I was in heaven. Give me “Out of the Sinking”, “Wild Wood,” “Above the Clouds,” and “All The Pictures on the Wall” every day of the week. This type of songs shines on 66, so hearing “Nothing” and “Rise Up Singing” was a treat, as was the rockier “Soul Wandering” and Noel Gallagher-penned “Jumble Queen.”
Paul Weller constantly amazes me with his workrate, fearless ambition, and the quality of his output this late into his career. He’s been releasing music since 1977 and he’s constantly pushing himself into new areas. Not all of his experiments are successful, but that is by no means a bad thing. I’m hard-pressed to think of another artist doing it better than him right now.
Nova
Cosmic Fringes
Soul Wandering
My Ever Changing Moods
That Pleasure
All the Pictures on the Wall
Headstart for Happiness
Stanley Road
Glad Times
Have You Ever Had It Blue
Village
Fat Pop
Hung Up
Shout to the Top!
Broken Stones
Rise Up Singing
The Pebble and the Boy
Nothing
Out of the Sinking
Above the Clouds
Jumble Queen
Start!
Into Tomorrow
Peacock Suit
https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/paul-weller-live-review/
Paul Weller
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, April 9, 2024
Although lockdown now seems to have become a vague memory from our shared folk mythos, the effects rumble on. For Paul Weller, the productive burst of 2020-21 - two chart-topping albums, On Sunset and Fat Pop - coincided with padlocked chains across doors and an inability to take his new songs to the arenas where their creator is most alive. As a result, his current tour of Britain has taken on the air of ‘An Event’. A voice in the queue outside this evening underlines that feeling: “It’s the first time I’ve been to this venue since I saw The Banshees and The Cure in 1979.”
Though nothing in the 115-minute set comes from Weller’s 1970s, the 29 songs aired do span 44 years and several artistic lifetimes, and there’s a muscular, take-no-prisoners briskness that says sitting at home twiddling their thumbs does not come naturally to this most road-friendly of bands. The speed with which the seven musicians walk to their positions at precisely 8.45pm suggests they have got their adrenaline flowing in the wings beforehand; what follows contains no flab, no excess, no time-wasting.
Business as usual, then, but more so. Rip The Pages Up - a 2008 B-side - is a powerful opener, a clarion call and introduction to the heavy soul vibe to come. Even slower numbers such as You Do Something To Me and My Ever Changing Moods have a Sawdust Caesar swagger about them - nobody messes with the tempo, but you wouldn’t want to get in their way in a darkened alley or midnight tube station - as if the restless Weller is already contemplating the next song by the time the opening chords have reached the audience.Three songs - Soul Wandering, Jumble Queen and Nothing - from this year’s forthcoming 66 slot in seamlessly and act as a reminder of Weller’s unyielding approach to his career. A winter tour of the Far East and Australia to lubricate the joints; a spring tour of 2,000-capacity venues in advance of the album, a taster to hook us in; North American dates to maintain momentum; an autumn UK tour once the new tunes have bedded into our consciousness. There’s a heap of ageist guff spoken about veterans who appear to give little thought to quitting - Weller is 66 in May - but here it’s a two-way street, with much of the crowd comprising folk who have averaged one or more gigs a year by their hero since 1977 and have no intention of throwing in the towel just yet.
In the bar afterwards, these veterans of the trenches hold court: Paul’s singing better in 2024 than he has for a good few years. Yeah, guitarist and trusty lieutenant Steve Cradock is a genius, but it’s sax/flute maestro Jacko Peake who makes the shows special. The weathered yet soulful voice unveiled on White Horses and Old Father Tyme has given old material a new lease of life. There are at least 20 more songs worthy of an outing, but nothing that should be dropped. If Start! didn’t get played, though, nobody would bat an eyelid, but That’s Entertainment is sacrosanct; and Shout To The Top is a level above that, the sine qua non of a memorable night out.
If you are given to believing that Weller’s fans are Mods who have traded their Vespas for bus passes yet refuse to let go of a youth inspired by All Mod Cons, your cynicism will take a battering by the energy and enthusiasm on show. The simple pleasure of seeing a crack band concentrating on executing the basics to perfection means it’s impossible not to admire too the fire that drives them in their leader’s sixth decade as a working musician. Sixty-six and 66 suggest 2024 is going to be a vintage year for this changing man.
Set list:
Rip The Pages Up
Nova
Cosmic Fringes
Soul Wandering
All The Pictures On The Wall
Man Of Promise
The Pleasure
Stanley Road
Glad Times
Above The Clouds
Village
Fat Pop
Hung Up
Shout To The Top
More
Jumble Queen
Nothing
You Do Something To Me
That’s Entertainment
Start!
Peacock Suite
Headstart for Happiness
Wild Wood
Broken Stones
Mayfly
Rockets
The Changingman
Porcelain Gods
My Ever Changing Moods
READ MORE: Every Paul Weller album ranked!
READ MORE: Inside the making of Paul Weller's Wild Wood: "The press were saying I was finished. I was like, We'll see about that…"
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2409.19 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3366 days ago & DAD = 22 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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