GIG NUMBER FIFTY-EIGHT
Arthur Lee: March 7, 1945 - August 3, 2006: You Set The Scene.
Who
Love came on to an excellent Live And Let Live, following it with an effective Your Mind And We Belong Together (and I'm sure some of the vocals on that are supposed to be comical!). Things then went up several notches for the astonishing Alone Again Or. Everyone broke out into applause during the guitar solos as it was so great! Andmoreagain immediately followed and was also excellent, as was Seven & Seven Is, even if the original punk song didn't trigger a moshpit. Old Man was beautiful, featuring some top vocal gymnastics from Lee and The Daily Planet sounded so glorious that it was probably the set highlight. The Red Telephone featured an understandably drawn out chant of freedom and a rare glimpse of Arthur's eyes under the shades. Perfect so far.
Orange Skies felt slightly underwhelming, before My Flash On You was the first inclusion into the set that made me scratch my head. It was unexpected but in the end worked very well. Signed D.C. however was far too long and, as impressive as Arthur's skills with the mouth organ are, it was time which would had been better spent on other songs. A House Is Not A Motel remains my second least favourite song off Forever Changes, even if I don't quite understand why this is. It was far too long, and only some very smart drumming stood out for me here. Bummer In The Summer was excellent though, and the beyond awesome You Set The Scene really made you wonder how someone could possibly write a song so fantastic and mighty. Rainbow In The Storm was the sole new song. I'm not quite sure what I thought, but I don't think it was too bad.
Next up, Singing Cowboy has a fantastic introduction but doesn't really go anywhere. I'd had been slightly more annoyed by the massive length of time dedicated during the extended ending to introducing the band if the music hadn't been so great. Faultless is the only word to describe the quality of musicianship of this group. Everything was note perfect, and the sound quality was incredible, being exactly the correct volume to leave you both happy and undeafened! From a technical viewpoint, this was just about the best show ever, with the lack of orchestration not affecting the brilliance of the Forever Changes tracks in the slightest. And Arthur was right to praise the Manchester crowd! Lee was on form, cracking amazing smiles and throwing his maracas around in a way Liam Gallagher wouldn't dare!
The lengthy (but technically excellent) rock-out of Singing Cowboy was followed by Can't Explain; another song from their debut that probably didn't warrant a place in the set over some other tunes. My Little Red Book was an almost criminal omission, and I'd had liked ĦQue Vida!, Talking In My Sleep and She Comes In Colors. No complaints with Between Clark & Hilldale though, which is absurdly melodic and it was a fine final tune!
Although not uniformly perfect, this really was an excellent performance in general. The balance of the set was a bit off, but only because too many old songs were played! Maybe ten tracks off Forever Changes was understandable, but three from their debut and a lack of tunes off the excellent Four Sail was frustrating. But Love deserved their massive ovation, and it's hard to complain when so much was played despite this not being billed as a greatest hits tour. Legend is the phrase that springs to mind when thinking of Arthur Lee and this was indeed no mere nostalgia night, but a show that felt every bit as current and relevant as anyone else out there could be.
Mark: 8.5/10
Love With Arthur Lee
Support
The Yards
Where
Manchester Academy
When
21st March 2004
Price
£16.50
Who with
Matt
Position
Towards the front
Comments
After missing the Forever Changes tour, Love was one gig I could not miss this time round! He may had been around 60, but Arthur Lee looked half his age and rocked as hard as anyone else and, although his landmark album was released over 35 years before, this could never be guessed from the incredible enthusiasm from the band towards the songs, the largely young crowd and, most incredibly, the fast-growing Love fan base, as Lee somehow was managing to move up a venue every time he toured. The night got off to a pretty dire start though with The Yards who were totally uninteresting, apparently containing an ex-member of The Seahorses. Not much else need be said. Then we had to push through the crowd to obtain a reasonable position and await Arthur's arrival.
Setlist
Live And Let Live
Your Mind And We Belong Together
Alone Again Or
Andmoreagain
Seven & Seven Is
Old Man
The Daily Planet
The Red Telephone
Orange Skies
My Flash On You
Signed D.C.
A House Is Not A Motel
Bummer In The Summer
You Set The Scene
Rainbow In The Storm
Singing Cowboy
Can't Explain
Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale
