MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
DAVID DYHNE
Playhouse, Edinburgh, 11 September. Strange bloke, David Byrne. Despite countless concerts, he appears to be awkward on stage - not ill at ease or nervous but slightly bemused that all these people could have turned out to listen to him. He’s just a bit sort of . . . well geeky, really. He can’t dance - he can do a mean matador stomp, an intriguing chicken walk and an odd little duck shufer but seems to encounter problems when trying to make his sinewy body move in time to the music. All of which is incredibly surprising for a man who has an innate ear for rhythm which he combines with a versatile voice to create some of the finest pop/rock around.
Since Byrne went solo, his World/ Latin-influenced material has garnered much critical acclaim but hasn’t achieved the commercial success which greeted most of his offerings when he was the irontman for Talking Heads. This evening’s concert reflected this, with the emphasis firmly on Talking Heads’ classic tracks played with a wild rock child attitude. Thus the mainly thirtysomething audience are treated to “Psycho Killer’, ‘Hoad To llowhere’, ‘Take Me To The Hiver’ and the like. All of these tracks are good on vinyl
A
but performed live with deft, full-on guitar and some serious drumming
' they become transcendent stadium
' shakers in which Byrne really is burning down the house. Ahem.
1 Yet it’s not all quirky tales of
relentlessly feelgood small town lives ; played out to a David Lynch plot. His
; newer material shows Byrne in a more ; contemplative mood with opening
1 lines like ‘I met my love by the funeral E pyre’ introduced by brooding, heavy
: guitar riffs. A bit of a change from his ' usual material but one which still kept ? the audience’s cords swanking.
' (Jonathan Trew)
mm- FATIMA MANSIONS
I f X King Tut’s, Glasgow, 17 Sept. There’s a kind of exclusion zone that develops in front of the stage at King Tut’s sometimes, when, unsure of the support act, the few who’ve bothered to show up early hug the walls, hidden behind pint tumblers. Playing into the void tonight are Delicate Vomit, who had us guessing when we saw their name chalked up at the door. Turns out they’re a female three-piece who, yeah, have heard The Slits and X-Hay Spex and . . . well, lor the short time we saw them were pretty great, hammering out three- or tour- chorders, vocals shared between all members and introducing songs with lines like ‘This is a song about a boy who’s not normal, called, er, “llot Normal” ’ and ‘Sweet Furry Mammal That Goes Eek-Eek-Eek’. Aces. ‘lllster-says-no. Ulster-says-no,’ burbles the keyboard Cathal Coughlan holds aloft, eyebrows raised, before leaping into the lyrical swamps of ‘The Loyaliser’ while slide guitar ghosts
» T 4"“; SJ" and bowls around him. A million miles away from the perfect-dumb throwaway pop of the support, Fatima Mansions is a dense, bitter, sarcastic, hopeless and angry noise, and, if you give yourself over to it on the full-tilt numbers, almost cathartic. Especially if you’re Cathal, who, by the end of ‘60 Home, Bible Mike’, three songs in, is
, drenched in sweat, voice a rasping rattle. Away from the multi-layered sound of the records, though, the sound is stripped bare and the slower songs suffer. The Scott Walker cover, ‘Hite Flights’, for example, while sounding huge on the current album, tonight feels rushed and muddy. All of this is made up for, however, by ‘Evil Man’, stinging and bubbling, cleaning out your head like having your ears syringed with boiling spit. (Though remember kids: Don’t try that at home. And beware of bands that attract an 80 per cent male audience.) (Damien Love)
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Concerts listed are those at major venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time of going to press.
ROCK
I GLASGOW BAHHOWLAND (226 4679) PWEl. 8 Oct; The Cranberries. 13 Oct: Spin Doctors. 16 Oct; The Kinks. 18 Oct; The Mission. 19 Oct; Australian Doors. 20 Oct; The Prodigy. 22 Oct; Stone Temple Pilots. 23 Oct; Terrorvision. 26 Oct: Crash Test Dummies. 1 Nov; Counting Crows. 6 Nov; liIvis Costello. 15—16 Nov; Brand New Heavies. 17 Nov; Paul Weller. 30 Nov; Primal Scream. 9—10 Dec; Saw Doctors. 17 Dec. I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Solid Gold Rock ‘n’ Roll. 14 Oct; The Hollies. 21 Oct: Nanci Griffith. 23—26 Oct; Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett. 30 Oct; Solid Silver 70s. 7 Nov; Brenda Lee. 9 Nov; The Beat Goes On. 10 Nov; Iris Dement. 12 Nov; Tom Jones. 17 Nov; David lissex. 22 Nov; Legendary Ladies ol‘Soul. 1 Dec; Bootleg Beatles. 12 Dec. I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) VOUIC'I. \"ous. 9 Oct: Ticket to Ride. 16 Oct; Concert They Never Gave. 21 Oct; Dennis Locorriet‘e. 14 Nov. I GLASGOW PLAZA (031 557 6969) Grid. 11 Oct; James Taylor Quartet. 16 Oct. I GLASGOW SECC (248 9999) Bryan Perry. 25 Oct; Barry Manilow. 3 Nov: Joe Cocker. 3 Dec; Cliff Richard. 4—6 Dec; Status Quo. 7 Dec; Gary Glitter. 8 Dec: Dina Carroll. 10 Dec: M People. 12 Dec; RPM. 16. 17 Apr; Wet Wet Wet. 17 Jul. I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 60001'I‘he Hollies. 23 Oct; Penguin Cafe Orchestra. 6 Nov; Sixties Show. 13 Nov; Rocky Horror Show. 22*26 Nov. I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Indigo Girls. 18 Nov; Carter. 9
Dec.
I EDINBURGH USHER
3 HALL (228 1155) Willie Nelson. 9 Oct; Solid Gold Rock 'n' Roll. 15 Oct; Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett. 26 Oct; Brenda Lee. 7 Nov; Solid Silver 70s. 10 Nov; Legendary Ladies of Soul. 3 Dec; Bootleg Beatles. 13 Dec. I EDINBURGH INGLISTON SHOWGROUND (557 6969)
Rosette. 15 Nov.
.JAZZ
1 I someone" DUEEH’S I
HALL (668 2019) Stanley 1 Jordan. 21 Oct; Guy i Barker Quintet. 4 Nov;
Tarn White’s Eco-Drive
SO. 3 Nov; Bernard
Band. 25 Nov; Carol Kidd I D‘Ascoli. 14 Nov;
Trio. 1 Dec: Craig McMurdo. 16 Dec.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Chris Barber. 19 Dec.
I GLASGOW CITY HALL (227 5511) Stanley Jordan. 22 Oct; Guy Barker Quintet. 3 Nov; Phil Bancroft's Big Shebang. 16 Nov; Tam White‘s Eco—Drive Band. 24 Nov; Carol Kidd Trio. 1 Dec; Russell Cowieson
Quintet. 4 Dec: Nigel
Clark Quintet. 10 Dec. I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Glenn Miller Orch. 24 Nov.
I GLASGOW SECC (248 9999) Harry Connick Jr. 28 Oct.
FOLK
I EDINBURGH UUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Wolf‘stone. 12 Oct.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Ralph McTelI. 19 Nov; Celtic Connections. 5—22 Jan.
I GLASGOW PLAZA (226
2 4679) Wolfe Tones. 23
Oct.
LIGHT
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 (1000) Sydney Devine. 12 Nov. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155)Jack Jones. 22 Oct; Daniel O'Donnell. 6-8. 10—11
Dec.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Val Doonican. 18 Oct (2.30pm); Jack Jones. 18 ()ct; RAP Bands. 28 Oct; Dominic Kirvvan. 20 Nov; Michael Ball. 29 Nov; Honky Tonk Ladies. 11
Apr.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Sydney Devine. 16—19 Nov.
I GLASGOW SECC (248 9999) Barry Manilow. 3 Nov.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT
HALL (227 5511) Opera in Concert. 7 Oct: Children's Classics. 9 Oct: Tokyo Philharmonic. 19 Oct.
' Strathclyde Showcase. 31 Oct—2 Nov; Gothenberg
Tennents Live! Making Music Happen
Borromeo Qrt. 18 Nov; Emma Johnson. 6 Dec; John Williams. 24 Jan:
Novosibirsk Philharmonic. 12 Feb: Leif ()ve Andsnes. 22
Feb; Stuttgart
Philharmonic. 28 Mar;
Joshua Bell. 2 Apr; Melos
; Ensemble. 4 May; lvo
Pogorelich. 2 Jun; Cecilia Bartoli. 7 Jun; Ravi Shankar. 2 Jul; Jessye Norman. 6 Jul.
I GLASGOW TRAMWAY
(227 5511) BBC SSO. 10
Nov; ECAT. 11 Nov; Chamber Group of Scotland. 12 Nov; BBC SSO. 13 Nov: RSNO. 27 Nov.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
THEATRE (529 6000) Lithuanian NPO. 30 Oct; Vienna Boys Choir. 27 Nov; Scottish Opera. 29 Nov—10 Dec; Messiah. 11 Dec.
E I someuncu KING’S
THEATRE (220 4349)
Romanian National
1 Opera. ll-«l5 Oct.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Hebrides Ensemble. 10 Oct; Piano Circus. 17 Oct; Sandra Porter. 19 Oct; Andrievsky and Renshaw. 26 Oct; BTSli. 27 Oct;
Meadows CO. 29 Oct: Maxwell Davies Birthday Concert. 6 Nov; Lindsay
Quartet. 14 Nov; Ralph Kirshbaum. l5. 17 Nov; Lyell Cresswell Birthday Concert. 30 Nov; Mitsuko Uchida. 5 Dec; BTSli. 15 Dec; Contemporary Violin. 11 Jan; Brindisi Quartet. 23 Jan; BTSIE. 23 Feb; ECAT Concert. 6 Feb; Vellinger Quartet. 13 Mar: BTSE. 20 Apr.
I SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Programme details and tickets for RSNO. SCO. BBC SSO and CGPO concerts are available from Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 5511); Usher Hall.
lidinburgh (228 1155):
Queen's Hall. (Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow
(332 9000); Festival f Theatre. Edinburgh (529
6000).
.\ llanci Griflith, Glasgow Concert Hall
35 The List 23 September—6 October 1994