MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
7 LIVE E 7 LIVE
SUPERSTAR
Teyiot Row. Edinburgh.
19June. Ifscoolhrbeehufied.
(‘ool to be flushed with
the flush ofeutesy heartburn. (‘ool to be buzzed by the charge of amouricity. feel suitably inspired. and repair to your pop poster-bedecked garret. there to gush forth your gasping emotions. The first rule of one is that you turn sappy. your words turn soppy. and anyone whose stomach is doing the turning gets a smack in the mouth.
Which brings us to Superstar. ‘To all my friends. please don‘t expect so much.‘ sings Joe MeAIinden. a big softy who coos when he sees the Andrex puppy on telly. He and his group are angels with dirty faces. dispensing pop favours from on high whilst rooted in grubby riffs of a more earth(l)y persuasion. Most obviously. they enter the grindmoire of their hometown cronies with a track which might just be called ‘Feels Like Forever‘.
Less obviously. so sublime is their tuneful expedience. Superstar have harmonies that ride a fast escalator to the stars. Oh yes. From the most excellent. too-short album Greatest Hits Vol. ()ne. ‘Barfly‘ tells tale of a lass so wondrous that she induces the lads to eroon ‘You take me back. . .‘ (somewhere. where I‘m not sure) seven ways to heaven. It isthis golly-gee. wide-eyed wonder— and their beat-group. gimmick-free fun-ness— that is Superstar‘s triumph.
That. and their couldn‘t~give-a-toss echoes of the Eagles and sundry 7(1s not-hip types. That. and the ba-ba-ba‘s on ‘Tastc‘. which are plaintive, plangent. tangent and. er. regent. They're starstruck. they‘re lovelorn. they‘re surfing on a wave ofgood
time affection. They‘re Superstar andthey're all
35 The List 3— 16Ju1y 1992
yours. (Craig McLean)
1 i
DEF LEPPARD/GUN
SECC, Glasgow, 21 June.
You’d expect a band of Del Leppard’s
stature to have a sound idea of which
direction they’re heading, particularly 1 since they chose a route five years ago ~ with the innovative ‘Hysteria’ album
and have been sauntering along it ever
since. Trapped in a cloudy musical goldfish bowl, they are floating around like a dumb carp, unaware that they have been living with the same ruined castle all these years.
Times have changed. Once, Def Leppard were ahead of the pack. Now, they are unceremoniously blown away by awesome Glaswegian support band Gun, an eager bunch of younger, hungrier animals on the ascendant curve of rock’s inevitable cycle of renewal.
Def Leppard are graduates of the mega-production school of rock, employing ostentatious stages and irrelevant hardware as a grand backdrop to their pompous performance. In contrast, Gun are not yet million-sellers and have nothing with which to distract a bored audience should their talents and personalities fail. It comes down to commitment, honesty and communication, as real rock’n’roll always has, and in these departments Gun are well endowed. Sometimes over-endowed, truth be told.
Def Leppard
; Frontman Mark Rankin gives heart
1 and soul as he bucks like an animated , mule, setting an example which the
rest of the band follow to varying
f degrees. Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot must ' be wondering why he could never sing 1 like that. As ifto compensate, Elliot employs a further visual distraction, wearing tacky sequinned trousers in which he appears as half-decadent rock star, half-pearly king. Rankin’s shorts are just cool,_hanging impudently on his lean frame.
Even with a remarkable clean and dynamic sound (considering the venue), Def Leppard couldn't compete with their understudies, who were predictably landed with a mix verging on the criminal. Maybe that’s why they 1 stole the show? (Richard Heggie)
V LIVE PRINCE
Parkhead, Glasgow, 28 June. Someone’s going to kill that mad little bastard one of these days. Most likely, someone who nursed a paper cup of flat Pepsi through the hours of tedium which preceded one of his concerts; demented by endless repetitions of what basically amounted to an ad for his highness’s forthcoming album, by that woman’s voice intoning, so maddenineg slowly, bon mots like: ‘Prlnce’s Favourite Food . . . ls. . . Slewardesses’, ‘Levi . . . Will Kill . . . You’ and, inevitably, ‘Don’t Buy. . . The Black. . . Album’. Even a spirited set by Shakespear’s Sister is swallowed up by this malignant monotony as though it had never been, and, after the eighth go-round, the only possible human response to ‘We Told U . . . Not 2 Come . . .2 The Concert’ is, well, bloody hell, mate, wish you had, ’n’ all.
if Prince is trying to bore us all so
rigld that his performance will look all the better, he’s seriously misjudging
, himself and his band. They’re on stage § for over two hours- pelting out
everything from heavy rock to
Ellingtonian swing in an all-singing, all-dancing, all-extravagance burlesque- but the pace rarely flags. lf
‘ it does, that’s probably because the
opening salvo is such a hyperkinetic slammin’ blur. lt’s mirrored by an
unstoppable closing sequence which
includes ‘Cream’, ‘Gett Off' and what one presumes is the new ‘My Name Is
Prince’. At times like these, the energy level is so high it doesn’t look like it will ever come down.
lie preens, he pounces, he solos, he cavorts on a flying bed, he takes . complete command, ably assisted by a 1 v
trio of male rappers/dancers who look
1 afterthe show when he’s offstage.
1 Prince soars where others would
1 flounder—for many reasons, but not
i least due to a playful wit that defuses
: the grandiosity of what is, after all, an
‘ immense production, timed to perfection.
Jet-pack stunts or not, how will Jacko
top this? (Alastair Mabbott)
Grappelli. 8 Aug; British V IJazz Legends. ll AugzPat
' Concerts listed are those at
maiorvenues, forwhich tickets are on public sale at time of going of press.
; ROCK
I GLASGOW
BAHHOWLAND(22b-Ib79)
DelAmitri. 1911.1; Fishbone. 22 Jul; Pop Will 1 [flat Itself. 2()ct:'1‘he Saw
Doctors. 12(1et11nspiral Carpets. 4 Nov; Faith No More. 3 Dec.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL(227 551 1) Nanci
{ (iriffith.3(1JuI; Four Tops. 14 Sept. I GLASGOW GREEN (1131
556 1212) Michael
Jackson. 14 Aug.
I GLASGOW SECC((131 557 (i969) Roxette. 18.1111: Def Leppard. 21 Jul; Chris De Burgh. 12 Sept: Scottish Music Show. 19—211 Sept; Metalliea. 27 ()ct: (‘liff Richard. 29—- 31 ()et: (ieorge Benson. 1 Nov; Tom Jones. 2 Nov; .1 ason Donovan. (1 Dee; (iary(i|itter.23~2-1Dec. I LIVINGSTON FORUM (1151164191911'1‘he Wonder Stuff. 2-1 Aug. I EDINBURGH CASTLE ESPLANADE (557(1969) Mike Oldfield. 4 Sept.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE
(557 25911) Del Amitri. 17 Jul; David Byrne. 21 Jul: Texas. 8 Aug; Four'I‘ops. 12SepL
I EDINBURGH QUEEN'S HALL ((168 211 I 9) Jools Holland. 22~311Aug; Inspiral ('arpets. 3 Nov.
JAZZ 81 FOLK
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1 ) BB(‘ Big Band with (ieorgie Fame. 19 Sept.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN'S HALL ((168 21119) Salty Dog. 8— l 2 Aug: (‘lassie Jazz. 9 Aug: From Kansas ('ityto New York. 111 Aug; Andy Sheppard. 14 Aug: Summit Reunion. 15
1 Aug: Allan. i7 Aug;(‘1an
Alba. 2(1Aug; Battlefield Band. 21—23 Aug; That
Boysof the Lough. 28—31) Aug; Berg Stern Band. 31
' Aug-'1 Sept: Debut. 31
Aug—1 Sept; Carol KiddCieorgie Fame. 1
' Sept; (‘arol Kidd. 3 Sept:
(ieorge Shearing ('arol Kidd. 3 Sept; Nana
‘ Vaseoncelos. 4 Sept;
(‘ourtney Pine. 4 Sept. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1 155) Stephane
l Metheny Trio. 12Aug; Dick Hyman. 13 Aug.
7 LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT
HALL(2275511)
' Iingelbert llumperdinck. 24 Sept. I GLASGOW PAVILION
(33218-161Joe Longthorne. 21—2-1 ()et. I GLASGOW SECC(()31 557 (i969) Shirley Bassey.
2 Dec. I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE
(557 259(1) James Last. 4~~5 Sept. . CLASSICAL
‘ I cuscow concern HALL(227 5511).\'\'()S.
27 Jul: Labeque Sisters. 28
Aug; Peter Nero. 29 Aug: James ( ialway. 4 Sept; Joshua Rifkirt. 5 Sept; Skitch Henderson ('onducts. 11~~12 Sept; Last Night of(il(iS. 13
Sept: Pinehas luckerman.
29 Sept; Moscow Radio S(). 311Sept; ()saka Phil. 2(1()el; Ii(‘(‘(). 1 I Nov; ()slo Phil. 12 Nov: 'I‘okyo ()uartet. 29 Nov; Shura
('herkassky. 2 Dec; Polish
(‘0. 1 Feb11ohn Williams. 111Feb; \‘ienna
SO. 4 Mar; Philharmonia.
22 Mar: ltzhak Perlman. 211Apr: St Petersburg Phil. 1 I May.
I EDINBURGH CASTLE
ESPLANADE(557(19(»9) Nigel Kennedy. 2 Sept.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN'S HALL ((ifib’ 21119) .‘N-IcUibbon Iinsemble. 31 Jul; F.1F (‘hamber Recitals. 17 Aug- 5 Sept: Scottish Ensemble. 27 Aug.
I EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL All ticket applications to Box Office. HF. 21
Market Street. Iidinburgh
15.1111B\‘\'((13l225575o).
' ISUBSCRIPTION
SEASONS Programme
details and tickets for i Royal Scottish ()rehestra.
Symphony Orchestra. and
; Swing'l'hang.24—2oAug: ,
Scottish (‘hamber ()rchestra. BBC Scottish
(‘ily ofCiIasgow Philharmonic Orchestra are available front 'l'icketcentre. (iIasgoys (227 551 ! 1; Usher 1 fall.
' Fdinburgh 22S1155):
Queen's I Iall. Iidinburgh ((168 21119). Tickets for Scottish Open: from Theatre Royal. (ilasgow (332 911110); Playhouse. Edinburgh (557 259(1).
The Wonder Stuff __1