Shockingly, this is the fifth time I’ve seen Patrick Wolf this year and this will probably be the last for a while. In what can only be assumed to be his swansong show for The Bachelor (save for some dates in Asia and Australia), the London Palladium played host to what was undoubtedly his biggest show to date, with an extended band featuring a strings ensemble, a vocal choir and special guests (more on this in a bit).

What’s more, Wolf knew that this was his biggest gig and performed not only like a true professional but a person who was eager to shine on a famous stage. Whether playing ukelele, dulcimer, viola, piano, or just using flat out popstar theatrics, his energy was unrivalled as was his determination. His supporting cast were all equally brilliant (especially drummer Marcelo Vig who seemed to nail the varying rhythms of Patrick’s back catalogue), but the main talking points were his special guests. Alec Empire flew in from Germany especially for this performance to give some electro muscle to songs like Count Of Casualty, Battle, Hard Times, and Vulture. The biggest surprise though was the appearance of Florence Welch (of The Machine variety), whose appearance could have gone either way. Thankfully, Wolf and Welch sung The Bachelor together, a song that suited her strong and dominant vocals.

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this song in nearly every aspect. The crowd was a healthy mix of people of all ages (a ‘family show’ as Wolf put it at one point) and by the time Hard Times kicked into gear, the majority of the crowd were on their feet dancing away. The show that they put on wasn’t as overly flamboyant as I feared it might but there the odd ‘popstar’ moments like the revolving platform that was used on Vulture and the several costume changes that occurred throughout the evening. It felt, and rightly so, less like a LED-spectacular arena megashow but more of a pop concert that knew what lines of OTT shouldn’t be crossed.

For people like me who have seen Wolf more than once this year, it was also finally a chance to hear some older material. He promised a show that would act as a retrospective and that’s what we got in parts. The gentle wistful-natured Wind In The Wires and Pigeon Song were among the older cuts that shined the brightest in a setlist that also had all the usual suspects (The Magic Position, Bluebells, Damaris etc). Another glorious addition was Thickets, a track that is one of the highpoints from The Bachelor but rarely played live. For a two-hour long show, this was pretty much (give or take personal preferences) a dream setlist.

The only thing that is really at fault was the annoyingly low microphone levels that seemed to hamper some of the songs and its inconsistency really bugged me. Other than that, this was a show that, whilst not one of the best I’ve seen this year, will rank as a career highpoint for a man whose emergence has been long overdue.

The setlist was:

Divine Intervention
Overture
Wolf Song
Wind In The Wires
Oblivion
Paris
Theseus
Who Will?
The Shadowsea
Bluebells
Pigeon Song
Thickets
The Bachelor
Epilogue
Noise Interlude
Count Of Casualty
Battle
Hard Times
Damaris
The Libertine
Tristan
Eulogy
The Magic Position
The Sun Is Often Out
Vulture

And yes Wolf fans, I am aware Gwendoline Christie was the Voice Of Hope but I didn’t know her full name when writing this up initally and didn’t want to look like someone pretending to know stuff. Hopefully I should have a video of The Sun Is Often Out up on YouTube fairly soon. In the meantime, you’ll have to make do with Count Of Casualty.

Like this? Try these!

• Patrick Wolf at Heaven
• Patrick Wolf at Tate Modern
• Placebo at the O2 Arena

Posted on November 16th, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Gigs, Reviews