Thursday, September 11, 2008

Paul Weller at Nokia Theater 9/10/08

If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought I was entering the Space Mountain ride at Disney Land. But apparently no; in fact, I was going to see a Paul Weller show at Nokia Theater. After braving the bizarre neon descent taking me underneath Broadway at Times Square, I happened upon a Theater which apparently puts on rock and roll shows. Good thing I left the acid at home.

His-ever-changing-moods seemed decidedly spunky and electrified as he sauntered around the stage. Weller can have a very commanding stage presence and last night was no exception for His first of two shows in NYC. He seemed revitalized, rejuvenated and as excited as the brash arrogant teenager who first graced the stage in the mid-70’s. Perhaps the fact that He had a new band playing with Him had a lot to do with it -- with the exception of ex-Ocean Colour Scene guitar maestro Steve Craddock, this was a totally new band. Indeed, Weller die-hards surely would have noticed the conspicuous absence of His long time drummer Steve White.

Early on in the set, He made His purpose known with a Cuban heel stomping rave-up version of “22 Dreams” from His latest album of the same name. After ending the song, a broad smile ran across His face. He knew it was game on. And it certainly was.

Fans were treated to a healthy dose of songs dotting His thirty plus years in rock and roll, including numbers I’ve never heard Him do in his solo career. “Shout To The Top” from the Style Council was the first surprise of the night followed later on by the spooky “Butterfly Collectors” from His Jam days. The audience’s enthusiastic cheers at the end of which prompted Him to announce His surprise that the NYC crowd even knew the song that well. Clearly He underestimated the huge contingent of aging Anglophile mod grups who always flock to His shows, dressed in their best Fred Perry shirts, skinny jeans (even if they have no business wearing skinny jeans anymore) and Clark's Desert Boots or Wallabees. For my part I went with the Lonsdale t-shirt, Levi cords and trainers. But enough about the fashion, back to the music:

The modtastic set lasted for nearly two hours and ended with two encores. Kelly Jones from The Stereophonics joined the band onstage for rousing encore renditions of “That’s Entertainment,” and “Eaton Rifles” amongst others (oddly though, they didn’t do “Call Me No. 5”, the track they performed together on ‘Illumination’). The final encore ended appropriately with (this having been the eve of the 7th anniversary of 9/11) “All You Need Is Love.” Clearly there was much love to go around between audience and performer. The only sad point of the night was that it had to come to an end.

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