© Dave FreakGetty ImagesTHE LEMONHEADS
FORUM, LONDON
19 FEBRUARYHHH
The trouble with music that
sounds gloriously effortless is that,
sometimes, its protagonists make
no effort at all. Not only is Evan
Dando touring his second covers
album in a row with Varshons II,
there are times on stage when the
soon-to-be-52-year-old appears
unaware of both the crowd and
his own band’s existence.
Singing from behind his curtain
of hair like Cousin Itt from The
Addams Family, Dando dispenses
with It’s A Shame About Ray
before the 20-minute mark.
To be fair, by then he’s already
played probably eight songs.
It’s impossible to keep up, as
songs are dashed off with a
mixture of impeccable breathless
abandon and lazy carelessness.
The show encapsulates Dando’s
whole career: just when you want
to give up on him – an interlude
of countrified versions with just
Dando and guitarist John Strohm
seems to last a decade – he
switches moods in an instant and
reminds you why he’s grunge’s
greatest melodicist.
Dando’s last album of original
songs was a self-titled effort back
in 2006. It’s a mystery where
his muse has gone since, but
he’s such a great interpreter that
he can mainly get away with it.
Few can cover Eagles’ standard
Take It Easy and make it seem
like it was their idea. But when
Dando brushes his hair aside
near the end to beautifully sing
the unadorned romanticism of Big
Gay Heart, there’s a sense that he’s
communing with something other.
Having started the night by
playing drums unannounced for
two songs with support band
Heyrocco, Dando ends by refusing
to leave. Sailing past the 11pm
curfew, Dando jumps into the
front rows to sing unaccompanied
once the power is cut on stage.
Ultimately, Evan Dando just wants
to sing. How he uses his voice
seems beyond anyone’s control.
John EarlsOf all the various tributes
currently attracting crowds in the
wake of David Bowie’s tragic
passing, Holy Holy are the
most well-connected, interesting
and (importantly) legit. Up
and running two years before
Bowie’s demise (and receiving
his blessing), they’re built around
ex-Spiders From Mars drummer
‘Woody’ Woodmansey and
Tony Visconti, the musician/
producer whose relationship
with Bowie stretches from Space
Oddity to Blackstar. Their raison
d’être, however, is simply to pay
homage to the period 1969-
1973, where the former David
Jones moved from folky strums
to developing his iconic Ziggy
Stardust persona.
With Heaven 17’s Glenn
Gregory on vocal duties, Holy
Holy also feature H17 keyboard
player Berenice Scott, Jessica Lee
Morgan (daughter of Visconti
and singer Mary Hopkin) and
guitarists James Stevenson (The
Cult) and Paul Cuddeford (Bob
Geldof) – but they play second
fiddle to the rhythm section, as
Woody bashes away behind
his sizeable kit with a rock-solid
precision and Visconti quietly
gets on with bass duties.
It may be a brief period in
Bowie’s lengthy career, yet
there’s no shortage of material,
with tonight’s show focusing on
1970’s The Man Who Sold The
World and 1972’s The Rise And
Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The
Spiders From Mars. Performing
in track-order, The Width Of A
Circle, All The Madmen and
Black Country Rock are Bowie
at his heaviest, early 70s rock
songs that benefit from two
electric guitars. Running Gun
Blues and that first album’s title
track, with its drifting, familiar
guitar riff, get the audience
nodding (if not headbanging) in
blissful approval.
Pausing after The Supermen,
the band pass over the acoustic-
leaning Hunky Dory for
Ziggy. Moonage Daydream
is thunderous and Starman an
earnest singalong. Jessica leads
Lady Stardust, before the home
straight sees an anthemic Ziggy
Stardust and rollicking Suffragette© Lorne Thomson/RedfernsHOLY HOLY
TOWN HALL BIRMINGHAM
13 FEBRUARY
HHHH
1 The Width Of A Circle
2 All The Madmen
3 Black Country Rock
4 After All
5 Running Gun Blues
6 Saviour Machine
7 She Shook Me Cold
8 The Man Who Sold
The World
9 The Supermen
10 Five Years
11 Soul Love
12 Moonage Daydream
13 Starman14 It Ain’t Easy
15 Lady Stardust
16 Star
17 Hang On To Yourself
18 Ziggy Stardust
19 Suffragette City
20 Rock’n’Roll SuicideEncore
21 Where Are We Now?
22 Life On Mars?
23 Changes
24 Rebel RebelSETLIST
City boogie, winding up with an
excellent Rock’n’Roll Suicide.
That should be it. But the band
return for an encore that steps
outside of their 1969-1973 remit
to present The Next Day’s solemn
Where Are We Now?, plus
Life On Mars?, Changes and a
stomping Rebel Rebel.
The shaven-headed Glenn
might not be the most obvious
choice to channel Bowie, and
to his credit, he doesn’t try,
and that’s the right decision as
this isn’t an impersonation –
Woody’s not wearing a frock
and Visconti’s not dressed as his
TMWSTW Hypeman persona.
If you want brightly coloured
fabrics, orange hair, silver boots
and vats of make-up, you can
find all that elsewhere. But if
you want to discover the spirit of
Bowie’s early music, and hear
those formative tracks played by
people who helped shape them,
it’s got to be Holy Holy. To quote
Rock’n’Roll Suicide: Wonderful.
Dave Freak