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MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
Tennonts lee!
um- oitvm mccome
King Tut's. Glasgow. 2 May.
Take a wrong turning going home ITOlll the boo/er in Perth. Western Australia and you can easily lind yourself with a couple of thousand miles ol desert hel‘ore the next grog shop. All that heat and sand can get a man to thinking. and it’s this sense of space and isolation that has fuelled David McComh‘s music l'or over a decade. The result has been a kitid of hip. hig country. Lou Reed recast as a sheep shearer. Nick Cave without the Hammer histrionics. The man's a llippin' pop genius. no worries. as they say in (‘oopct‘ l’edy.
It‘s one of the bleaker symptoms of Western capitalism in the last decade oi the 20th century that McConib's prolile linds him playing hall‘- hour support slots to hapless INXS imitators Hunters And Collectors. but he's cool and assured enough not to dwell on the injustice. Two songs into the set he's flapping his locks playfully. revisiting classic Trillids territory on ‘lu The l’ines'.1ong-time Collahoi'atoi' ‘liy il' (il'ttiiitlil l.ee is adding copious swooniug pedal steel and it l'eels like 1936 again.
"l‘rickOl”1’he1.ight' and ‘Raining Pleasure' play the same games with Nostalgia. hut McComh‘s recent material from the [me ()1 Hill album isn‘t mei'shadowed. ‘l.tl'e|ike‘ cobbles together \HIIIL' cheerfully laddish harmonies on the chorus and ‘1 Want To (‘onquer
You' pretty much does. ‘.-\ny requeststhat w e can (lisi‘egai'il‘.” he enquires sardonically. Mtllions. Day e. millions. (Tom l.appin)
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THE PBETENOEBS
The Garage, Glasgow, 25 April. Chrissie llynde IS rock ’n' roll. Expelled irom the womb with a Telecaster slung over her shoulder, she’s one at the iew musicians who can make an inane remark like ‘we’ve come here to rock this club’ sound like genuine musical evangelism instead oi smartypants irony. It seems just right that The Pretenders should be starting their British tour in a place with a name like The Garage. It seems especially right when they rev up with primal bass and guitar, dispelling the
1 j usual tears surrounding the t ‘comebacks’ oi time-served rockers.
This stuff is basic, not in an insulting play-by-the-rules way but in the ieel- good reaction it elicits all over the hall. The test comes with the iirst oi the greatest hits — will there be a new ‘mature’ arrangement? llo, ‘Talk Oi The Town’ is as iresh as the day it popped out the toaster.
Original Pretenders drummer Martin
Chambers occupies the stool again. lnevltably, years oi drum abuse (ahem) have claimed his hairline. lle may no longer look like a Manic Street Preacher prototype, but he still commands a certain awe.
Chrissie (iirst name terms seem more appropriate) looks great. Well, she does irom ‘The list”s vantage point at the back oi the hall, where her uniorced cool maniiests itseli in more ways than that at other shaggy-haired American vixens, starting in Suzi and ending in Ouatro. She’s lost none oi
the vocal versatility that’s helped her ; skip the pigeonholes over the years.
| Take the current single ‘l’ll Stand By } You’. In the hands oi, say, Vanessa
Williams, it would become lush slush, f with obligatory philhannonic backing ; band. And a Number One record. With t Chrissie at the emotional helm, it’s
1 both sultry and sincere, and along
‘ with ‘I Go To Sleep’, a seductive
1 outpost in a set otherwise littered
i with sharp lloo Wave strutting and
g staunch rebel rockers. Gee, wish she
i was my mom. (Fiona Shepherd)
SENSER/NEW KINGDOM
The Tunnel, Glasgow, 26 April. ilew Kingdom are apparently the
L hottest new property on the deeply
dippy planet iunkety-rap-iusion, but
irom over beside the PA they sound
. like the latest ioghorn attack on the : realms oi the aesthetically bearable, = taking a chainsaw to delicate
constitutions and discerning ears. Senser love them - that’s why they’re
f on the bill - so one can only assume
the headliners channel all their good judgement into the making oi their own records, with no iervour held over lor the appreciation oi other acts.
Senser are the shortest band in the world, or else they attract the tallest audience in the world, because the only assurance that they’ve actually taken the stage is the abrupt change in the musical diet ilooding this dungeon - irom Tony Bennet and gabba techno to something that solders the charisma oi the iormer with the explosive insanity oi the latter.
Other superlatives that seem
“N '-°‘ tit?- \‘f' “VT 1 ’3} féS‘SSEcx .r *"S‘S ‘~“¢" 'I ; “I v .‘
Senser i
: appropriate at this point include: Most
Cataclysmic Band In The Universe and Most Skiliul Rapping While Being
Hoisted Over The lleads Oi The Crowd. The sight and sound oi wiry rapper lleitham helplessly crowd-surfing while delivering the apocalyptic overture ‘I see the system as it crumbles beiore me’ (irom the
: scalding ‘Eject’) is a top incongruous
; moment.
; Crumbling systems and other simply digested political soundbites aside, Senser’s live incarnation are more
about medium than message. You have
to be awake physically as much as intellectually to ieel the piledriving
; impact oi their heavy mettle.
Lightning strikes several times. Public Enemy’s ‘She Watch Channel
‘Zero’ and the next single ‘Age Oi Panic’ are primal screams, though even they pale next to the urgency oi f ‘Eiect’ which - pheeeeyoooll - leaves skid marks all along Argyle Street. (Fiona Shepherd)
V BOOK NOW
Concerts listed are those at major venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time at going oi press.
ROCK
I GLASGOW BARROWLAND (226 4679) Nine Inch Nails. 21 May; BBM. 23 May; Brand New Heavies, 24 May; Galliano. 19JunzChaka Demus and Pliers. 10 Jul: Elvis Costello. 14 Jul.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Emmylou Harris. 30 May; Julia Fordham. 3 Jun;
5 Bonnie Raitt. 6 Jun; Kris
Kristofferson. 9 Jun: Dwight Yoakam. 14 Jul; The Hollies. 21 ()ct; Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett. 30 Oct.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Indigo Girls. 1 Jun.
I GLASGOW SECC (248 9999) Crowded House. 27 May; Diana Ross. 6 Jul; Cliff Richard. 4—6 Dec; Dina Carroll. 10 Dec.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6(X10) (Postal bookings until 16 May) Horse. 9 Aug (557 6969); The Hollies. 23 Oct; Penguin Cafe Orchestra. 6 Nov; Sixties
Z Show. 13 Nov; ROCk)’
Horror Show. 22—26 Nov. I EDINBURGH LYCEUM (229 9697) John Martyn. 22 May; Average White Band. 29 May.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Village People, 16 Jun; Huey Lewis. 20 Jun; Jackson Browne. 25 Jun.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S
HALL(668 2019) Blues
Band. 5 Jun. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL(228 1155)Cocteau
; Twins. 26 May. 1 I STIRLING CASTLE ESPLANADE (031 557
6969) UB 40. 18 Aug; Runrig. 19 Aug.
JAZZ
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) (Postal bookings only until 16 May) Pasadena Roof Orchestra. 26 Jun: Ted Heath Orchestra. 8 Aug; George Shearing. 10
Aug.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) McCoy Tyner. 20 May; Tam White. 27 May; Guy
‘ Barker. 28 May; Abdullah
Ibrahim. 29 May.
: I GLASGOW CONCERT 'I‘IALL (227 55 I I ) Chris Barber. 27 May; New
Orleans Mardi Gras. 20 Jun; Glenn Miller ()rch. 24 Nov.
i LIGHT
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (5296000)
(Postal bookings only until 16 May) Sydney Devine. 12 Nov.
I GLASGOW CONCERT
Tennents Live! Making Music Happen
HALL (227 5511; parbara Dickson. 1 Jun; Entertainers at War. 4 Jun; Bob Hope. 13 Jun; Patsy Cline Tribute. 26 Jun; Guy Mitchell. 18 Sept; Shirley Bassey. 19 Sept; Val Doonican. 18 Oct; Tom Jones. 15 Nov.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Sydney Devine. 16—19 Nov.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Gospel Choir. 21 May; CGPO. 22 May; West Side Story. 26 May;Gir1‘s Brigade. 28 May; Jaleo. 2 Jun; Choral Spectacular. 5 Jun: RSNO Proms. 10-25 Jun; Midsummer Rhapsody Gala. 29 Jun; Jessye Norman. 6 Jul; Montserrat Caballe. 19 Aug; The Flying Dutchman. 26 Aug; GIGS. 3—11 Sept; Galway and Robles. 12 Sept; Tokyo Philharmonic. 19 Oct; Gothenberg SO. 3 Nov; Bernard D‘Ascoli. 14
Nov; Borromeo Qrt. l8 Nov; Emma Johnson. 6
Dec; John Williams. 24 Jan; Novosibirsk Philharmonic. 12 Feb; Leif0ve Andsnes. 22 Feb; Stuttgart Philharmonic. 28 Mar; Joshua Bell. 2 Apr; Melos Ensemble. 4 May; lvo Pogorelich. 2 Jun; Cecilia Bartoli. 7 Jun; Jessye Norman. 6 Jul.
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) ASBB. 20 May; Kilarney Quartet. 20 May; Junior Concert. 4 Jun; GCO. 5 Jun; Glasgow Sinl'onia. 12 Jun; Scottish Voices. 12 Jun; St Mary‘s Concert. 19 Jun; Junior Concert. 25 Jun; Semele. 27—30 Jun.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
Q THEATRE (529 0000)
(Postal bookings only until 16 May) Tristan und Isolde. 25 Jun; RSNO. 27
Jun; Montserrat Caballe.
28 Jun; The Sixteen. 3 Jul;
L Amsterdam Baroque. 17
Jul; Evelyn Glennie. l9 ' Jul; English Bach Festival
; Opera. 21—22 Jul; Kronos
Quartet. 23 Jul; Labeque Sisters. 27 Jul; Michael Nyman Band. 6 Aug; Nom'egian Chamber Orchestra. 7 Aug.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL(668 2019)
1 Edinburgh Academy
Concert. 22 May; Stars of the New York Met Opera. 24 May; Altai Kusainov.
i 25 May; Maxim Philippov. 2 Jun.
I EDINBURGH USHER
f HALL (228 1155) Royal Scots Guards Band. 27 May; RSNO Proms. 28
May—4 Jun. I SUBSCRIPTION
: SEASONS Programme
details and tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow (332 9000); King‘s Theatre. Edinburgh (229 1201 ); Festival Theatre. Edinburgh (5296000).