4 April 2013 (Day 94) – Planty, Townes & Colin

It was a day of many commitments which significantly reduced the time available for playing much. 

During the day, yet another colleague at work gave me a briefing of the last of the major Bluesfest acts to have made their way through town.  This time it was Robert Plant who played at Rod Laver Arena last night.  My colleague thought the show was a bit on the short side and he played too many reworkings of Led Zeppelin tunes in preference to his last couple of solo albums Band Of Joy and Mighty ReArranger.  (At best, he estimated, only 1 or 2 tracks were played from each album.) The entire upper seating level of the venue was curtained off which indicated the show hadn’t sold as well as intended.  Despite this, he saw nothing wrong with either Plant’s performance or what he described as his “crack” backing band the Sensational Shape Shifters.  Both I could sense disappointment even if he wouldn’t acknowledge it.

Intrigued by these comments I looked up online reviews before I wrote this post and found that Plant might have fallen victim to the infamous Melbourne audience.  One of the things I’ve noticed, especially in comparison to gigs I’ve attended overseas or interstate, is the Melbourne audience can, on occasion, be quite a difficult one to please.  It is an audience that even established acts on their upteenth visit here should never take for granted.  On many occasions I’ve seen audiences which did not get excited until provoked by the act or in response to something thrilling on stage.  Very few acts handle this type of audience well and of all the acts I’ve seen confronted by this, only Bryan Adams has managed to effectively turn it around.  Adams is not an act I would choose to see but he was on the bill of the final date of The Police’s Synchronicity World Tour at the Showgrounds.  Known at the time for only one hit, Cuts Like A Knife,  which he played early on in his set, the audience soon lost interest.  Then during a long number, he tried to rouse the audience and failed.  He then let out a burst of anger, shouted the immortal lines, “Come on Melbourne, even Sydney was better than this!” and slammed his microphone into the stage.  Unbelievably, this was sufficient for the crowd to responds positively for the rest of the set.  At least he seemed prepared for this type of scenario unlike some other acts who I've seen roll onto a stage expecting adoration without playing a note. 

Sometimes the Melbourne audience’s attitude can get to an act who, unlike Adams daring the audience to support him, responds by criticising it or cutting the show short.  As I wasn’t there, I cannot say that this happened but apparently Plant made some comments about the crowd indicating a bit of real frustration.  

But back to today’s playlist.  I did keep true to my promise to play something less abrasive and went for the first live album from an act that could very well have posed a challenge to the Melbourne audience had he ever played in front of an audience of any size here;

(# 258) Townes Van Zandt – Live At The Old Quarter, Houston Texas (1977 release of a 1973 concert performance)

From what I could work out Van Zandt played only two shows here in September 1990 at what appears to have been a very small venue.  (I’d missed it as I was backpacking around Europe at the time.)  I suspect that the performance might not have been all that different to this except for a deteriorating voice; solo with only a guitar for company.  But from what I’ve heard of his music this is all he really needed to make his memorable country or folk based songs come alive.   Championed by many singer songwriters, notably Steve Earle who has cut an album of his tunes, this album can also be heard as an overview of his earliest and best work.  Pancho & Lefty, If I Needed You, For The Sake Of the Song, Cocaine Blues and Tecumseh Valley are all present and accounted for as well as some well chosen covers (especially Who Do You Love) and his between song repartee.

(# 259) Mull Historical Society – Us (2003)

Mull Historical Society is basically a performing name for Scottish singer/songwriter Colin MacIntyre.  It is full of beautifully constructed and polished indie/pop tunes on which MacIntytre has played almost all the instruments.  Some writers have suggested he is a Scottish version of The Eels but I don’t think he shares either the caustic wit or bleak world view of E.  On this album, his second and most successful, I think the closest comparison, especially on the latter tracks would be with the pre Girlfriend output of Matthew Sweet.