'What do you want? What do you expect?', asks the old man in The Great Gatsby. The Belles were good, but not great. Good songs, good sound, good playing. But where the big ones? Where was 'The Boy With the Arab Strap'?
And, there it was again, some of the old cringey between-song chat.
'Hi. I'm Stevie.' Jesus, who gives a chug?
'I'm really glad to be playing this song tonight, because my brother's here and the last time I was talking to him, he told me that his friend had been telling him...' Cut out the cock snot and just get on.
But then we think about 'The State That I Am In', 'I'm Losing It', 'Stars of Track and Field', 'If You Find Yourself Caught In Love'. And so on, and so on. The new songs are sunny and bright. At this stage, they have one of the strongest back catalogues of any band in the world. Which brings me back to 'The Boy with the Arab Strap'...
It must be a strange world, their world. Somewhere between pop and indie, BBC 6 and Radio 2, Top of the Pops and Kelvingrove Park. They're better than they were, but they're losing what they had, which makes us wonder- if time is growth, who wants a changeless child?
1 comment:
Yeah. He does talk too much between songs. Billy Connelly used to talk alot between songs in his folk days, but look where that led. I don't think Belle, or is it Sebastian, has a future in stand up. I'm sure it would be pleasant to have a conversation with him, but give it a rest on stage you big, dull dud. Without the fannying between songs, they could have fitted in another two - perhaps during an encore which consisted disappointingly of one song, co-sung by a stage invader.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the songs and look forward to delving deeper into the back catalogue you mention.
All in all, a very enjoyable night. (7)
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