MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
Im- PULP
Ingliston. Sun 25 Feb. What a year Jarvis Cocker and his acrylic-clad cohorts have had. Having spent the best part of a decade hovering on the vaguer fringes of indie success it seemed as though they were doomed to be always cast in the role of also-rans, never written off yet never tasting mass appeal. Then Pulp went and released Different Class just as the Britp0p wave was cresting and suddenly they found themselves thrust blinking into the limelight. mildly surprised that people were finally taking an interest in their appraisal of the awkward and mundane details of British life. It's a situation that Cocker has taken to like a duck to orange sauce and tonight's performance marks the triumphant coating together of all the component parts of Pulp’s new found success.
Cocker has the rare talent of complete crowd control. playing the punters along with an astuteness born of Pulp's long apprenticeship. The mostly teenage audience hangs on every arched eye-brow and shudders with each twitch of Cocker’s lithe hips. Every over-blown gesture and am-dram groan is met with an enthusiasm as wild-eyed as his own little boy lost look. The man treads a very thin line between self-referential irony and heavy-handed camp without ever falling on the wrong side.
Part of the appeal lies in the fact that his clumsy flamboyance is matched by a down to earth humour, a characteristic which Cocker will count in his favour should his common people ever decide to put him on trial ' for vanity. The show is glitzy and glammed-up to the max but whdeanxone else in Cocker's position would opt for champagne as the on stage refreshment of choice. he seems to be sipping from a mug of tea
The songs however, sparkle with the verve and passion of a band who know that their time has come. The geeks have finally inherited the earth. (Jonathan Trew)
therapist extraordinaire. less kind
surnames/rueamusement!
Barrowland, Glasgow, 4 Mar. There’s a tribal Adam And The Ants song ‘Pablo Picasso Visits The Planet Of The Apes’ which keeps coming to mind as The Divine Comedy struggle manfully on from the Darrowland stage. Like this incredibly young audience Just want to worship their simian hero Caz, and never mind with this obscure bunch of artists making abstract sounds before them.
The Divine Comedy are in the mould of Ironic pop crooners like Pulp, and the idea of them is, on the evidence of this performance, more alluring than the musical reality. However, their closing ‘Dogs And Horses’ with its ridiculously DTT lyrics recalls the essential showbiz pomposity of Sinatra and makes a steal from The Sound 0! Music’s ‘So long, Farewell’. Regrets, they’ve had a few . . . but you’d never know because they’re so self-possessed.
There’s less to be said about
e fUr
Supergrass - you know it all already, and they’re far less (wannabe)
enigmatic than their support act. Their : Knoptler. 6 May; Lou
upfront approach works over 90 per cent of the time, yet despite the fact that their songs remain the same (vigorous, glorious, magnapop blasts
or teasing post-punk oddities) there is :
something lacking throughout their performance.
The opening ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ is lumpen rather than the usual white knuckle sprint and ‘Mansize Hoosier’ just isn’t fast enough, particularly from a band who have taken the art of playing like your life depended on it beyond the limited chords of the likes of The Hamones. However, ‘Lenny’ is as supersonic as ever and ‘She’s So loose’ and ‘lose It’ make such simple yet effective overtures that you can’t help but succumb. So although they only make it off the runway once or twice, they’re still a national treasure. (Fiona Shepherd)
TORI AMOS
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 27 Feb.
Tori Amos has been tagged as everything from a flame-haired southern belle Kate Bush to musical
observers see her as nothing more than bonkers banny (for evidence, note the motion to the piglet- suckling shenanigans on her latest album sleeve).
In front of a polite yet adoring Usher Hall audience she is a bit of all three. She clearly has no cause to seek sympathy but gains it in buckets anyway by admitting to a dose of food poisoning attributed to an unnamed Edinburgh eaterie.
Aside from forgetting the words to a crisp version of ‘Smelis like Teen Spirit’ and a hint of frustration at the non-accommodating nature of her 8 chord, there are no visible signs of malady In her energetic performance. You can almost hear her )oanna inching away as she threatens to plunge headlong into its body.
The songs from her new disc Boys For Pele are warmly welcomed while all favourites such as ‘Cornflalte Girl’ and ‘Honey’ are rapturoust greeted. She even takes time out for requests, though not entirely successfully: to a third cry of ‘Whole Lotta love’, Amos retorts: ‘your mother does what?’
If the attention from the songs wanes at any point there is always an evolving backdrop to be entertained by. Is that a shoal of plankton or a wellesian snowstorm? Next up, a Christmas light constellation and a shimmery Tivin Peaks reference of yellow and blue.
Tori Amos is never going to set the pop world ablaze but she will find no difficulty in dragging along a fixed band of followers to taste her future prolects. This was a night brimful of passion played out with subtlety and verve. Mark this set ‘fragile’. (Brian Donaldson)
BOOK NOW
Concerts listed are those at major venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time of going to press.
ROCK
. I GLASGOW ARCHES (556 5555) Maria McKee. 22 Apr.
I GLASGOW
BARROWLANDS (226 4679) Terrorvision. 27 Mar; Sonic Youth. 14 Apr; Alanis Morissette. 20 Apr; Ash. 28 May.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511)
Marianne Faithful]. 29
“1 Mar; liL(). 5 Apr; David
Essex. 20 Apr; Tony
Bennett. 25 Apr; k d lang.
26-27 Apr; Rock and Pop Musicals. 5 May; Mark
Reed. 10 May; Judith Durham. 3 Jun.
I GLASGOW GARAGE (332 1 120) Dubstar. 22 Mar; Marion. 24 Mar; Lloyd Cole. 27 Apr.
I GLASGOW IBROX STADIUM (339 8383) Bon Jovi. 11 Jul.
I GLASGOW KING’S
THEATRE(227 5511) 100 . Guitars. 7 May.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Gary Numan. 30 Mar; Queen Tribute. 13 Apr.
3 I GLASGOW SECC (248
9999) P1 and Duncan. 23 Mar; Black Grape. 29 Mar; Meatloaf. 5 Apr; Green Day. 25 Apr; Smashing Pumpkins. 10 May; AC/DC. 1 Jun;
Boyzone. 5 Jul.
I EDINBURGH INGLISTON (557 6969) M People. 12 Jun.
I EDINBURGH MURRAYFIELO STADIUM
(557 6969) Tina Turner.
30 Jun. I EDINBURGH OUEEN'S HALL (668 2019) Aimee
Mann. 12 Apr; Angelique !
Kidjo. 10 May.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) David Essex. 24 Apr; Tony Bennett. 26 Apr; Mark
Knopfler. 5 May; Boyzone. SOLD OUT.
COUNTRY
I GLASGOW CONCERT
HALL (227 5511) Billie Joe Spears. 21 Nov.
JAZZ
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Tony Bennett. 25 A r.
I EDINBURGH USHER
HALL (228 1155) Tony Bennett. 26 Apr.
FOLK
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALI. (227 5511) Dougie MacLean. 28 Mar; C1annad.20 May; The Dubliners. 13.1un.
I EDINBURGHOUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Dougie MacLean. 24 Mar; Ceolbeg. 29 Mar; The McCalmans. 4 Apr; Andy Irvine. 5 Apr: Caledon. 7 Apr; Fairport Convention.
30 May.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155)C1annad. 22 May.
LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT
HALL (227 5511) West End Gala. 24 Mar; Roger Whittaker. 16 May: Connie Francis. 19 May. I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Foster and Allen. 25 Mar; White Heather Club Tribute. 16—27 Apr.
I GLASGOW SECC (248 9999) Barry Manilow. 12 Apr.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Children's Classics. 23 Mar; 100 Years of Cinema. 23 Mar; Call That Singing. 31 Mar; Warsaw Sinfonia. 14 Apr; Anne-Sophie Mutter. 18 Apr; Rostal and Schaefer. 21 Apr; John Williams. 9 May; Vienna Phil. 11 May; Evelyn Glennie. 17 May; Napoleon. 26 May; Lesley Garrett. 2 Jun.
I GLASGOW KING’S THEATRE (227 5511) 20 Movements / A Scottish Island. 10—11 May.
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Midday Concert. 22 Mar; Junior Academy ()rch. 24 Mar; Verdi‘s MacBeth. 24—30 Mar; SEMC. 30 Mar; Paragon. 28 Apr; Hebrides Ensemble. 5 May.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) Peter Grimes. 27—30 Mar; Travelling ()pera. 17—18
Apr.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Jean- Yves Thibaudet. 25 Mar: Heriot‘s Concert. 27 Mar; BTSE. 11 Apr; Leda Trio. 21 Apr; Chamber Group of Scotland. 22 Apr; Burns in Europe. 23 Apr; Jubilo. 28 Apr". ES(). 4 May; SCO Wind Ensemble. 5 May; Hebrides Ensemble. 6 May; King's Consort. 9 May; Edin Concert Band. 11 May; Meadows C0. 12 May; Edinburgh Academy. 19 May; Endellion Qt. 21 May; Nicholas Ashton. 25 May. I SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Programme details and tickets for RSNO. SCO. BBC S80 and CGPO concerts are available from Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 5511); Usher Hall. Edinburgh (228 1155); Queen’s Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow (332 9000); Festival Theatre. Edinburgh (529 6000).
, 40 The List 8-21 Mar 1996'