Patrick Wolf at Heaven
Last night marked the return of Patrick Wolf. This was the final stop of his short UK tour and his first in this country since the end of The Magic Position tour. I had heard reports beforehand of a new live approach that Patrick was taking – he was wearing a headset microphone. Therefore, you could say that he is the popstar who, unlike other popstars, actually sings and plays instruments such as the ukelele and the piano. My own thoughts prior to him arriving onstage was whether or not I would like this new direction of his live shows.
The answer to this question is a defiant yes. Patrick Wolf is a born showman and incredibly versatile. Whilst not playing instruments (he didn’t do much of this last night but I guess his musical ability isn’t the main focus on this tour or perhaps with this album) he was dancing and performing with boundless energy and was incredibly fun to watch. It is always refreshing to see musicians who decide to do different things with their live shows and it’s even better when you actually like it. His theatrics won’t be to everyone’s taste (and possibly some old skool fans’ taste either) but I loved it.
The new songs themselves were played in abundance and they were pretty damn good on first impression. They do seem to mark a return to the darker and more aggressive days of Lycanthropy, his debut album. Songs like Battle are helped by the addition of ‘RAWK’ guitar and a general dose of heaviness. Blackdown and Hard Times were also pretty brilliant and Who Will is the closest that Patrick will ever get to a power rock ballad. Vulture, the lead single, was a bit underwhelming but I’m hoping a studio version will make me like it.
The setlist itself was perfectly constructed. The first three songs, which included two new ones, got the crowd fired up including oldie but goodie Tristan. Towards the latter part there was another brilliant three-song-suite – Accident & Emergency, The Libertine and The Magic Position. In between these were a selection of less rowdier songs like Bluebells and new song Damaris. It was well paced and the addition of a guitarist to the live band is one of the best things Patrick has ever done. Accident & Emergency was almost glam-rock sounding in places as opposed to the electronica of the studio originally.
So overall it was a brilliant gig. The crowd, mostly made of teenagers from the cast of Skins, were pretty much as hyperactive as they could have possibly been (by the way, I’m all for jumping and moshing but mass crowd pushing is stupid, childish and just not on) and definitely spurred Patrick on. It will be fun to see him again, possibly at the Royal Albert Hall if his hinting is indeed true. Wherever he goes in May, he’s worth seeing.
The setlist was:
Oblivion
Tristan
Battle
London
Who Will
Damaris
Bluebells
Theseus
Count Of Casualty
Blackdown
Accident & Emergency
The Libertine
The Magic Position
Hard Times
Adder
Vulture
Bloodbeat
In regards to the new songs I am going on the basis of what he has played at previous gigs and several YouTube videos so if I’m wrong please point out where the mistakes are. Crazy Bob has once again got photos for the superfans to drool over.
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Posted on March 13th, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Gigs, Reviews
Loved the show, was amazing, totally agree with the pushing gripes…
Also, you’ve missed out the instrumental version of ‘Adder’ from your setlist, this gave Patrick time to turn into The Vulture just after ‘Hard Times’
Eep!
Hurray! That show was one of the best I’ve seen.
Thanks for the setlist!
[...] an electric guitarist. Maybe that is instructive of his new material’s sound; various reports from his mini-tour concluding show at London’s Heaven last night include the words [...]