Baxter Dury
Q Live At Concrete
Baxter Dury
"It's only me!" booms Baxter Dury as he bounds onstage, before switching from one of Harry Enfield's characters into an impersonation of '90s prime time telly staple Michael Barrymore. Yep, tonight (21 December) is the last Q Live At Concrete...
Gig Review
"It's only me!" booms Baxter Dury as he bounds onstage, before switching from one of Harry Enfield's characters into an impersonation of '90s prime time telly staple Michael Barrymore. Yep, tonight (21 December) is the last Q Live At Concrete with Grants Whisky show of the year, and from the off our ringmaster for the evening is in a suitably jubilant mood - dapper in a black, sharp suit - peppering this pre-Christmas set with nonsensical banter, whip-smart heckler ripostes and general geezer-ish bonhomie... and plenty of music.
Francesca's Party, from 2005's Floor Show, kicks off proceedings followed swiftly by the deadpan skank of Isabel, taken - as is the vast majority of the set - from this year's near flawless Happy Soup, voted 15th in Q albums of the year.
Irritatingly, on stage glitches - something to do with a bass monitor, apparently - mean the first quarter of the show is marred by murky sound and fractured playing as the band struggle to hear one another.
It's not until Afternoon ("written in the evening" Dury waggishly informs us) that the fog clears and the group begin to soar. Now firing on all cylinders, Happy Soup itself sees the son of the late Blockheads' chief drops his low monotone for a full throttle yell; Trellic transplants New York New Wave to a West London high rise while the acutely observed vignette Hotel In Brixton puts Dury's vocal foil Madeline Hart centre stage, successfully pitting her dulcet tones against the babble of chatter at the bar.
The band are now on roll and Dury is in his element, new song Beautiful Babies injects a bit of Some Girls-era 'Stones strut into the band's neat lo-fi pop template and a mass singalong for the closing bars of The Sun welcomes in a pulsating version of old favourite, Cocaine Man.
Backstage, Dury holds court and keeps the party going; gently ribbing an interviewer, telling off colour jokes and getting himself locked out onto the fire escape. All in all, it's a fitting send off for a year of first rate gigs.
Chris Catchpole
Baxter Dury played:
Francesca's Party
Isabel
Claire
Leak At The Disco
Afternoon
Happy Soup
Trellic
Picnic On The Edge
Hotel In Brixton
Beautiful Babies
The Sun
Cocaine Man
Love In The Garden
A live review will appear in a future issue of Q.
User Comments
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Baxter the brilliant! Who else gives you, rinkydink, magic roundabout, seaside psychadelic, rockin brit trad....amazing. Best bits, The Sun and Cocaine man, blew me away....Thanks to Baxter, Q and Grants for a great gig Axxx
Posted by AlleyKat at | January 4, 2012 11:51
I've seen him live and he's terrible. A first class 'mockney' babbler of the highest order. He comes across Incredibly pretentious, devoid of any realness, a complete and utter ego maniac who bosses his band around really badly. He can't 'sing' a word, he goes from being an embarrasing 'mockney' to a stuck up, upper middle class twat from one minute to the next. Shame, as his band were quite good, just a pity the front man is not up to the job!
Drop him
Posted by Darren Fox at | January 18, 2012 12:59
Thanks for sharing this. It's a great start, but I don't think the sointlous are "simple" as the ad states. Wind and solar power are not sufficient for the world's energy needs, according to most things I'm reading. A lot of people are saying nuclear is the only source efficient enough to meet the demands of other growing economies. But, we all need to conserve, use alternative sources when possible and live as if oil is our last resort.
Posted by Rohit at | March 20, 2012 11:24
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