Howe Gelb
Last night Howe Gelb played at the Luminaire in Kilburn (“London’s most agreeable live music venue”, apparently). I can’t decide if it was 2 sets he played, or if he was supporting himself… Buy One Get One Free, however you look at it! Anyway, Howe came on a little after 8:30 and played just short of an hour, then had a brief break and did a second hour-long set.
The first set was played exclusively on guitar. He started with Stuck (which I don’t think I’ve heard live before) and Robes of Bible Black, then lots more that I can no longer remember but which included Stranded Pearl and Paradise Here Abouts, with lots of chat and Howe-isms, and a couple of verses of A Whiter Shade of Pale…
The second set started with a couple of instrumental piano pieces (during which he encouraged us to talk amongst ourselves), and included Temptation of Egg (again, I don’t believe I’ve heard it live before) and Bottom Line Man from Chore of Enchantment, and Jason’s List from The Listener (well, I think it was!). He ended the set back on guitar, with a couple of numbers from Confluence, Saint Conformity and 4 Door Maverick (which he said he’ll be playing with the flamenco band this week). He ended with Shiver, played on both guitar and keyboard.
It’s always a pleasure to see Howe – and being solo seems to let him play whatever he wants, however he wants. You really get the feeling that he’s making it all up as he goes along, which works well most of the time, works wonderfully some of the time, and fails completely on the odd occasion (he did stop playing one song to remark how that the thing he’d just played didn’t work at all). I can understand how this would be incredibly infuriating for people who just want to hear the songs they know played just as they are on record, but Howe isn’t that kind of artist. If you are prepared to go along with him as he wanders through his material, it’s never less than interesting, frequently fascinating, and sporadically superb…
Edit: There’s a good review of the gig at Penny Black Music.