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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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GNARLS BARKLEY
The
Carling Academy Islington, Islington, London, June
14th 2008 |
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You
may be surprised, Serge, that we’re back
so soon at a venue that I only recently described
as a shithole after our unfortunate experience
there trying to watch Sparks. And you’d
be no more surprised than I, as we were supposed
to be at Islington’s charming and delightful
Union Chapel just up the road, rather than in
this soulless concrete box. |
| The
reason for the last-minute change is a mystery (perhaps),
but my anger was palpable when I learned via e-mail
that the chance to see Gnarls
Barkley play a stripped-down and ‘intimate’
gig at the Chapel had been snatched from me. But
once my fury had abated, I began to put in place
a plan honed with military precision to ensure that,
unlike our last visit to the Islington Academy,
we would be standing somewhere vaguely pleasant
with a clear view of the stage. So, accompanied
by a six-foot-six ex-bouncer I hired for the night
and his feisty companion, we set off North for an
early supper, a leading place in the queue and standing
places at the front of the upstairs balcony. Mission
accomplished, and it’s only about seven o’clock
- but it’s an early gig that will be followed
by Club de Fromage.
And there’s a more than engaging opening session
from the Shortwave
Set, who seem to be as surprised as we are to
be there so early, but nonetheless persevere with
their chirpy little electronica-fuelled ditties. |
|
Danger
Mouse, aka Brian Burton (L) and Cee-Lo Green,
aka Thomas Callaway (R) |
| They
are here, I have no doubt, because their new album
Replica Sun Machine was produced (or over-produced
according to some) by celebrity producer of the
moment, no, not Mark
Ronson, but Danger
Mouse, aka Brian Burton. He who, when not making
records for the likes of Gorillaz, The Good the
Bad and the Queen, The Black Keys and Beck (or pissing
off EMI as he did when he produced The Grey Album,
an unofficial remix of the Beatles’ classic
White Album) is one half of chart-topping sensation
Gnarls Barkley. The other, significantly larger,
half is rapper and vocalist Cee-Lo
Green, aka Thomas Callaway. So just to be clear,
and particularly for the benefit of the Bouncer
(“I’ve been looking up Miles Barclay
on the internet and can’t find out anything
about him”), Gnarls is a band, not a bloke.
And of course, a band that took the world by storm
with their first single ‘Crazy’, which
technophiles might like to recall was the first
single to reach number one in the UK charts as a
result of downloads only. The album from which it
came, St Elsewhere, was also a massive hit. Now,
strangely for artistes of such repute, they seem
to be suffering from second album syndrome. ‘Crazy’
was so bouncy and compelling that probably few took
time to listen to the dark sentiments that really
drove it along. In addition, the pair’s on-stage
personae, defined by wacky-themed costumes (sometimes
based on old movies), have tended to suggest a light-heartedness
that is far from evident in their songs (that’s
not to say they don’t have a lot of humour
in them, but it’s of a pretty adult nature).
Thus, being grown-up music, grown-up lyrics and
frankly quite gloomy, is possibly why The Odd Couple
has stalled a little, and possibly why the pair
are in London to play a few ‘intimate’
sets for their “biggest fans” with band
member, multi-instrumentalist and occasional Butthole
Surfer Josh
Klinghoffer, “to reveal the essence of
the songs”. |
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| Well,
the Islington Academy may be small, but it’s
not what I’d call intimate. And what we have
on stage is a full band decked out like college
kids: drums; percussion; bass; two guitarists (one
is the energetic Mr Klinghoffer, who also plays
keyboards); Mr Mouse on Hammond organ with the addition
of some neat electronic effects, and of course,
the imposing Cee-Lo. They hit the stage like an
express train, with ‘Charity Case’ and
‘Surprise’ from the new album, both
very powerful, built on top of a sixties-sounding
rhythm - I was strongly reminded of older Tommy
James and the Shondells stuff like ‘Mony
mony’. It’s very carefully packaged
and put together (as you would expect), right down
to the sound of the children’s xylophone,
and at the heart of things, Mr Mouse’s Hammond,
which as the Photographer put it, was artfully weaving
everything together. Mr Mouse was so busy at his
keyboard that we barely got a glimpse of him, but
Cee-Lo was a more-than-adequate front man. For all
the menace in his lyrics and (some might think)
his appearance, he captivated the audience with
his commanding voice (at its best when pushed into
a blues or gospel vein, as on the first encore ‘Save
my soul’). He’s absolutely engrossed
in the moment when singing, but apart from the fact
that he obviously bought the watch with the extra
diamonds, there’s nothing ostentatious here.
Between songs, in what little time there is, he
exhibits the irresistible charm of a naughty schoolboy. |
 |
It’s
played out at a breathless pace: fifteen songs in
an hour, each around three minutes long. They end
with a rousing version of ‘Smiley Faces’,
again driven by a classic sixties bass line (think
‘You can’t hurry love’ by the
Supremes, backed by the Funk Brothers). Altogether
a great set, the highlight of which was a slowed-down,
almost gospel version of ‘Transformer’
when Cee-Lo’s voice was simply stunning. The
Photographer loved it, the Bouncer’s feisty
companion loved it, I loved it, but the Bouncer
insisted “that they weren’t quite there”,
in his estimation. |
And even if the Carling Academy isn’t the
best venue in the world, from our vantage point
we were as close to the band as you could ever wish
to be, and it’s got to be a lot better than
the sort of stadia that Gnarls Barkley normally
occupy. Second album syndrome? On this showing not
a bit of it, although it’s just possible that
they might have outgrown the mass audience who made
‘Crazy’ such a massive hit. - Nick
Morgan (concert photographs by Kate)
Kate's
photo album  |
| Listen:
Gnarls
Barkley's MySpace page |
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the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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