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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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JOHN HIATT AND THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI
ALLSTARS, Shepherds Bush Empire, London,
Sunday 23rd October, 2005. |
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What a bizarre audience for the Bush. Well heeled
middle aged West Londoners, out of their comfort
zone out-of-towners, marketing consultant types,
IT specialists and legal eagles, groping 50 plus
couples (ugh!), the big ex rugby playing bastard
(a financial director I suspect) and his moll who
stood unmoving in front of me all night, and loads
of late teens and early twenties with their Mums
and Dads. Why there was even one sad 40 year old
with his mum too (he was drinking Coke, she was
on the vodka). Why were they here? At one point
from their frequent upward glances I thought it
was to admire Frank Matcham’s sumptuous Edwardian
decoration, gilded scallop shells, voluptuous cherubs
and all. Then I realised they were just casting
wistful glances at the congested 5/9s in the upper
balconies. Could they be refugees from the late
afternoon bicentennial celebrations of Our Greatest
Victory in Trafalgar Square? Well no. Roughly speaking
the young folks were there to see the brilliant
North
Mississippi Allstars, and the old ones
to see the sublime (yes Serge – you can see
where this one is going) John
Hiatt. Luckily we were there to see
them both.
John Hiatt is possibly best described as one of
the great should have beens of American rock music.
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He’s
just released his sixteenth (roughly calculated)
album, Master of Disaster, recorded in Memphis at
the Ardent Studios, produced by veteran Jim Dickinson,
and featuring two thirds of the NMA, brothers Luther
and Cody Dickinson, and bass player and Muscle Shoals
Rhythm Section regular David Hood. Not that, from
their reaction, many of the oldsters have heard
it – they’re here for the old stuff.
A great shame really, as Master of Disaster builds
on Hiatt’s 2003 release this Gruff Exterior
(recorded with his then band the Goners, with Sonny
Landreth on slide guitar). |
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A collection of wonderfully self-assured, mature
and grumpy songs (“Well I do my best thinking
sitting on my ass, sittin’ here waiting for
things to pass”) with a few moments of intense
reflection Gruff Exterior, thanks to a strong recommendation
from Mike, was my first real introduction to Hiatt.
Master of Disaster builds on that, and with the
added energy of the NMA (for which see below) it
should (but probably won’t) put Hiatt firmly
on the same stage as many of today’s younger
and much feted song writers. For if you don’t
know anything about this man then you should remember
one thing, he is a song smith of remarkable talent,
and as such makes one mindful of his one time collaborator,
producer and Whiskyfun favourite Nick Lowe, or even
Ry Cooder (currently leading candidate for Whiskyfun’s
Album of the Year) with whom he played in the early
80s, and then along with Lowe and drummer extraordinaire
Jim Keltner formed the doomed ‘supergroup’
Little Village. |
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But
the night kicks off with half an hour for the young
folks, a blistering romp by the NMA, of ‘Mean
ol’ wind’, ‘Po’ black Maddie’,
‘Shake ‘em down’, ‘Moonshine’,
and ‘Mississippi Boll Weevil’, picking
the outstanding tracks from their first album Shake
Hands with Shorty, and their most recent, Electric
Blue Watermelon, mixing their own creative talents
with those of their Mississippi muses Fred McDowell,
Charley Patton and R L Burnside. Oh yes, and they
finished with their great crowd-pleaser ‘Psychedelic
sex machine’ during which Cody Dickinson does
roughly for the Sunnyland washboard what Jimi Hendrix
did for the Fender Stratocaster. It’s almost
worth the admission. |
Chris
Chew and John Hiatt
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Precisely
on schedule John Hiatt takes the stage at 9.00pm,
supported by all three of the NMA (so that includes
that giant among bass guitarists Chris Chew). Kicking
off with his new album’s title track ‘Master
of Disaster’ he proceeds to give us two hours
of greatest hits (“phew” say the old
folks, “songs we can shake our arthritis bands
to”) mixed with almost all of the new CD.
He’s a strange looking guy – somewhere
between a slightly diminutive Nick Cave and actor
Hugo Weaving (you know the one, the self-replicating
agent in The Matrix and one of the chaps with funny
ears in Lord of the Rings). But he has that rare
thing amongst rock performers, charisma, presence?
Well I’m not sure what you’d call it,
but he just fills the stage, and then the whole
of the Bush. |
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fact by the time he’s blown the audience away
with a simply sensational and soulful version of
‘Ain’t never going back’ (from
Master), song number three, both the Photographer
and I (at this point she’s in heaven, perched
atop the mixing desk kit with the best view in the
place) agree this could be Whiskyfun’s Gig
of the Year. Hiatt plays his way through a sequence
of sumptuous acoustic guitars and a little bit of
keyboard before finally taking up his electric (“you
know”, he drawls, “this Telecaster is
a fountain of youth”). His singing is remarkable
for a 53 year old – at one point he explains
that he used to sing soprano in the church choir,
and he demonstrates that his falsetto is still up
to scratch. |
Energised
by the NMA boys he bounces around the stage like
a 25 year old (and when, without any disrespect
intended, Chris Chew starts to bounce I start to
fear for the stage of this venerable rock institution)
– he’s relaxed, happy, and clearly relishing
the grooves of his band, in particular Luther Cody
who excels on slide guitar.Songs?
The Photographer made a partial list. ‘Ready
for this thing called love’, ‘I’ll
find you again’, ‘Cry love’, ‘Thunderbird’
(another new song, inspired by a 1960’s TV
performance of Death of a Salesman) ‘Real
fine love’, ‘Is anybody there’,
‘Back on the corner’, Tennessee plates’,
‘Love’s not where we thought we left
it’, ‘Memphis in the meantime’,
‘Have a little faith in me’, ‘Slow
turning’ and ‘Lipstick sunset’.
Requited love, unrequited love, cars, domestic dysfunctionality,
bars, booze, children, god, triumph and failure
– roughly speaking the whole of the human
tapestry captured in witty and pithy lyrics, and
musically brought up to date by a band par excellence. |
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Something
strange happened. “Ok folks, let’s go
to Memphis’ said Hiatt. At a stroke a third
of the audience left – could his hold over
them be so strong? Then I looked at my watch –
10.30 and the out-of-towners were heading for the
last bus. We stayed to the death, the big bastard
departed with his moll for a late night of back
wrenching love-making (well, in his case about five
minutes I expect), and as Hiatt left the stage at
the curfew of 11.00pm with “hope to see you
in the summer of 06” we vowed to the nice
folks to our left that we’d see them then. |
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Just a fantastic night. If you get the chance go
and see him, if not, then as Serge would say, please
buy his records. Oh yes, and please don’t
forget those wonderful young boys, the North Mississippi
Allstars. - Nick Morgan (concert photos by Kate) |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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