Concert Review: Nick Lowe, Los Straitjackets, and The Cactus Blossoms at First Avenue

Nick Lowe, frolicking in the snow and being left-handed. (Left-handed people are the best. Nick Lowe, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, David Byrne and Philip Roth are all left-handed. I rest my case.)

Album cover of Nick Lowe's "Quality Street," 2013.

The Cactus Blossoms

Nick Lowe, one of my favorite artists, came to the Twin Cities again this week as he performed at First Avenue on Tuesday with Los Straitjackets backing him. Veteran British rocker Ian McLagan was due to open the show, but sadly he passed away on Tuesday after suffering a stroke on Monday. I was looking forward to seeing McLagan, who was the keyboard player with the Small Faces and the Faces. Local duo The Cactus Blossoms filled in for McLagan on the bill, and they did a great job. The Cactus Blossoms are two brothers, Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, who specialize in Western swing, and their voices combine just as beautifully as the Everly Brothers. Torrey and Burkum performed as a duo, with just their acoustic guitars, and that worked very well for their sound. One of the highlights of their set was a lovely cover of the Beatles’ “This Boy.” 

Lowe took the stage alone and sang the first few songs of his set solo, which always highlights what a great guitar player he is, and how good his songs are. Lowe spoke a little about McLagan’s tragic passing and that he would have wanted the show to carry on. As Nick played “7 Nights to Rock,” Los Straitjackets came onto the stage to accompany him. Los Straitjackets proved to be an inspired choice to back Lowe, as their 1960’s surf/garage rock style worked very well on rockers like “Ragin’ Eyes” and “Half a Boy and Half a Man.” Los Straitjackets also brought a palpable energy to the stage, and when Lowe left the stage for a break they entertained with instrumental versions of “Sleigh Ride,” “Bus Stop,” “Linus and Lucy,” and Lowe’s own “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass.” 

Although the tour’s official title is the “Quality Holiday Revue,” taking its title from Lowe’s 2013 Christmas CD “Quality Street,” Nick only sang four holiday songs. But I don’t think the audience minded. Lowe sang a lot of his best-known songs, but the set list also featured songs I haven’t heard him sing live before, like “The Rose of England” and “Half a Boy and Half a Man.” Lowe brought his customary energy and good humor to the stage, and the highlights of the concert for me were a lovely solo version of “Heart,” the slyly humorous “Christmas at the Airport,” and two great tracks from Nick’s 2007 album “At My Age,” “Not Too Long Ago,” and “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day.” Lowe closed the evening by singing a beautiful solo version of Elvis Costello’s “Alison,” a song that Nick originally produced for Costello’s debut 1977 album, “My Aim Is True.” Lowe’s soulful voice and spare guitar worked well to bring out all of the emotion in Costello’s song. 

Here’s the set list for the songs that Nick Lowe sang:

Solo:

The Rose of England

Heart

Long Limbed Girl

A Dollar Short of Happy

7 Nights to Rock

With Los Straitjackets:

Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart

Ragin’ Eyes

Christmas at the Airport

Not Too Long Ago

Sensitive Man

Somebody Cares For Me

North Pole Express

Half a Boy and Half a Man

Cruel to be Kind

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day

I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday

I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)

Encore:

Tokyo Bay

(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?

Second encore:

Alison-solo

Concert Review: Nick Lowe at First Avenue

Taken with my IPhone last night.

I saw Nick Lowe in concert last night at First Avenue. It was a terrific show. It’s the 4^th time I’ve seen Nick live, and he always puts on a great show. I missed Nick when he opened for Wilco last December, so I was very happy that he came to town again so soon. Nick performed with his band of Geriant Watkins on keyboards, Robert Trehern on drums, Johnny Scott on guitar, and Matt Radford on bass. They’re a great backing band, and Geriant is always fun to watch play keyboards. Lowe’s voice is in tremendous shape, and he knows exactly how to use it to get the desired emotional effects. He knows exactly when to turn away from the mike, how close to stand to it, all those little things that add so much to the emotional impact of his songs. 

Nick just has such a fun time performing, and he seems so genuinely thrilled by the audience’s response. He looked very sharp, wearing gray dress pants with a colorful shirt-almost a Robyn Hitchcock-like shirt. With his black eyeglasses and his gray hair he looks like a rock and roll version of how Cary Grant looked in the 1960’s. Nick dedicated “Cruel to be Kind” to Dick Clark, who died yesterday, saying that the song wouldn’t have been a hit without Clark’s support. Nick also talked about how happy he was to be starting the tour in the Twin Cities, and how much he likes playing here.

Even though Nick sang more than 20 of his very best songs, he has so many great songs that I can name a bunch of my favorite songs that he didn’t sing. He didn’t sing “Tonight,” “Marie Provost,” “Cracking Up,” “What’s Shakin’ on the Hill?” “Soulful Wind,” “You Inspire Me,” “Lonesome Reverie,” “Homewrecker,” “Let’s Stay in and Make Love,” “Indian Queens,” “Long Limbed Girl,” “People Change,” or “Hope For Us All.” I’m certainly very satisfied with the concert, but my point is that Nick Lowe is such a brilliant songwriter that he has enough great songs to fill two concerts. 

Nick changed a lyric in “Raining Raining” slightly, as “hungry lovers out back intent on sharing a snack” turned into: “hungry lovers out back already getting on track.”

The first two times I saw Nick in concert he performed solo, and he’s one of the few performers I’ve seen who can totally hold a room in the palm of his hand with just his voice and guitar. I was thrilled that he sang “Heart” solo, one of my very favorite songs of his. Other highlights were “I Read a Lot,” which is such a gorgeous, aching song, and the other songs from Nick’s latest album “The Old Magic,” “House for Sale,” “Somebody Cares for Me,” and “Sensitive Man,” all great new songs.  “The Old Magic” is yet more proof that Nick Lowe is reaching another creative peak as he gets older. “Tower of Strength,” a cover of a Gene McDaniels song was very lovely. I’ve never heard the song before, and only discovered the title through the magic of the internet. The encores were excellent, I always love hearing “When I Write the Book,” and of course “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” was a highlight. The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop as Nick sang it. One final highlight of the night was Nick coming back for a second encore to sing a solo version of Elvis Costello’s “Alison.” (Nick produced Elvis’s original version for his first album “My Aim is True.”) Through YouTube I had heard Nick sing “Alison” for a recent radio broadcast, and I was awestruck by his version. It’s fun to hear a very different version of such a great song. It was another great concert from Nick Lowe!

The songs that Nick sang:

Stoplight Roses-solo

Heart-solo

What Lack of Love Has Done

Raging Eyes

Lately I’ve Let Things Slide

Has She Got a Friend?

I Trained Her to Love Me

I Live on a Battlefield

I Read a Lot

Cruel to be Kind

Raining Raining

Sensitive Man

Somebody Cares for Me

House for Sale

Tower of Strength-cover of a Gene McDaniels song

Without Love

I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll

Encore:

When I Write the Book

(What’s so Funny 'bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding?

Tokyo Bay

Go Away Hound Dog

 

Second encore:

Alison-solo

Jesus of Cool Sale

Okay, I know I talk about Yep Roc Records a lot. But I have to give them a shout out because they are having an Easter Jesus of Cool Nick Lowe Sale! How fitting! Speaking as an agnostic, I rather enjoy the cheeky humor of it all. So right now you can get Jesus of Cool, The Convincer, and At My Age for $9.99 each. They're all more than worth it, so anyone who reads this blog who doesn't own all 3 CD's needs to get themselves over to Yep Roc and check out Nick! I wonder if Yep Roc would be willing to hire me as an official Nick Lowe/Robyn Hitchcock historian/archivist?

I Met Nick Lowe!

Last Saturday night I saw Nick Lowe live at the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis, and after the show I got to meet him! It was really a great show, very similar to when I saw him last year at the Fine Line. But the acoustics at the Dakota are much better. Nick performed solo, he really should do a solo live album. He really attacks his guitar, I'm surprised he didn't break any strings! The crowd was really great, very appreciative of Nick.

Nick even did a new song, called "I Read A Lot." It was excellent, a sad but gorgeous song about how the narrator reads a lot now that his girlfriend has left him. In introducing the song, Nick said "People fall into two categories when you say you're going to do a new song. They either say, 'I must hear it right away, another nugget of brilliance from this man, how does he do it, when does he sleep?' Or they say, 'How long is this going to take?' I must admit, I fall into the second category." Well, when it comes to Nick Lowe, I definitely fall into the first category! And I'm greedily hoping there's more new songs on the way.

After the show a group of people were waiting by the backstage/green room area, and Nick was signing autographs, posing for pictures, and chatting with people. I was excited, as I had wasted quite a while after the Fine Line show hoping to meet Nick, with no luck. I heard Nick tell the guy in front of me that he was hoping to tour with a band next year, and that he has a best-of coming out next year. I went to the concert with my Mom, who is as big a Nick Lowe fan as I am, and she was pretty excited to meet him too. (She thinks Nick is pretty cute, in addition to being a great singer and songwriter.) So I got to shake Nick's hand and talk to him for a minute, and stand around while someone found a Sharpie so he could sign our CD's. (I had stupidly assured my Mom that Nick would have a Sharpie. He didn't.) I learned that Nick is left-handed, which just makes him that much cooler in my book. (I'm left-handed as well.) Nick is quite handsome up close, with his white hair and piercing blue eyes, but then you know that if you've seen the cover of his album "The Convincer." (Just seeing that CD cover when it came out made me wonder, "Who is that guy?" But I didn't just buy the CD at the time. I should have.) I told Nick, "I think you're one of the great songwriters," because I had to say something to articulate how much his music means to me. He seemed pleased that someone would say that about him, he said, "Thank you very much. And thanks for bringing your Mum along!" What a nice guy!

So that was my meeting Nick Lowe story, here's the set-list, I think I have all the songs, but not in perfect order:

People Change
Soulful Wind
When I Write the Book (so glad he played that!)
Lately I've Let Things Slide
What's Shakin' on the Hill
Long Limbed Girl
Hope For Us All
All Men Are Liars
I Trained Her to Love Me
(after those 2 songs Nick said, "Now we're through the controversial part of the show, we've made it to the other side, which doesn't always happen.")
Man That I've Become
Has She Got a Friend?
I Read a Lot-new song
Cruel to be Kind
I Live On a Battlefield
What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?
Without Love
Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll

encore:
The Man In Love
The Beast In Me
2nd encore:
7 Nights to Rock

It was a great show and a great night.

Nick Lowe-Jesus of Cool Reissue

Here's a link to AllMusic's blog entry about the upcoming reissue of Nick Lowe's 1978 album Jesus of Cool, aka Pure Pop For Now People.

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/2/15/they-called-it-rock-nick-lowes-jesus-of-cool-gets-the-reissue-this-pure-pop-classic-deserves/

I can't wait to get my copy! I just started getting into Nick Lowe after At My Age came out last year, and unfortunately, most of his solo albums are out of print. I can only hope that Yep Roc will continue reissuing his old albums. (Though I hope they don't wait for the 30th anniversary of each album!) So I've only heard the Jesus of Cool songs that appear on Basher: The Best of Nick Lowe, an excellent compliation that dates from 1989 and covers 7 Lowe albums, all out of print!

If you don't know who Nick Lowe is, go out and buy Basher and At My Age and Jesus of Cool, and go start a blog, and don't rest until everyone knows how great Nick is! He's a terrific singer/songwriter in the Ray Davies/Paul McCartney style. If you don't know who Ray Davies is, he's the lead singer and songwriter of the Kinks, go out and buy Kink Kronikles, The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, Face to Face, and Other People's Lives. If you don't know who Paul McCartney is, I really can't help you out. Anyway, Nick is a writer of very melodic songs that are like little short stories. He's very clever and witty, if you like music with some intelligent lyrics, you'll like him. While I'm at it, if you like these guys, you'll also love Alan Price. Go out and buy O Lucky Man! and Between Today and Yesterday.