Nick Lowe played the first of three nights at what is apparently London's favourite music venue, although from the first floor balcony the sound was a bit muddy for the first three or four numbers so I'd be interested to know what the judging criteria were. With no album to plug this was a run through of Nick's faves on acoustic guitar, aided and abetted for the second half of the set by old mucker Geraint Watkins on keyboards and one time Led Zeppelinite John Paul Jones who switched between bass, electric mandolin and rthythm guitar.
The early part of the set drew heavily on the Brentford Trilogy, with the stand out moment being Rome Wasn't Built In A Day. Unusually for Nick there was little in the way of inter song banter.
The mid part of the show featured a slew of songs from his last but one album (sadly, no Yuletide treats from his 2013 Christmas album Quality Street), of which the strongest was definitely Stoplight Roses. There was also a nod to the past with a cover of Cliff Richard's Travelling Light.
Lowe had warned his audience that, whether they had come from Diss or Peterborough, he might not play all their favourites. So there was no Beast in Me. The encore consisted of Watkins and Lowe duetting on the former's Only A Rose and then Jones and support act John Doe joining the duo onstage for an eerie recreation of Everybody's Talkin as made famous by Harry Nilsson. They finished with (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding, despite Nick protesting that they hadn't planned to play it.
As always, Lowe's honeyed voice carried the occasion and left the audience wanting more - and this despite the iffy sound.
The sound was fine on Saturday night (from the rear left, at ground level). Looks like "What's So Funny..." had been added to the set list; he played it solo at the end. A good night.
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