Graham Parker (solo) ~ 2008 May 10 ~ Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry, NH
Graham Parker accompanying himself on Gibson acoustic guitar, Fender electric guitar, and harmonica
Setlist (with guitars noted)
Review
Concert Going Partner and I dawdled down side roads in Maine to get to the next gig, admiring those sweeping Maine vistas, and whiled away some time sitting in the car playing travel Scrabble. When CGP drew three Us and a blank in the same hand, we decided it was time to go stand in line to get into the venue.
Down a short flight of steps into a venue about the same size as the one the night before, but much less comfortable. Probably a few more than 200 auditorium-style seats were crowded in front of a large, but low stage. This venue had real food, sandwiches, chicken tenders, that sort of thing, and you can bring in beer and wine although they charge you $3 if you do.
Tonight there was no opening act, and Graham came on just a little after 8:00, wearing the same stage clothes as the night before with the exception of a black wristband instead of the blue one. He mentioned again that his soccer team had won their championship. Talking about soccer led him to do an impression of an American football player ("I'm sorry I broke the guy's collarbone, I pray for his family every day") and then one of English soccer star David Beckham ("when I retire I want to work with children") with a perfect English accent (not Graham's own English accent, David Beckham's English accent) and then somehow he got onto Deepak Chopra, something about meditation. If he ever quits music he can definitely become a celebrity impersonator.
The lovely "Next Phase" was followed by one of my particular favorites, a song I haven't heard him do in a while, "If It Ever Stops Rainin'," a song that I identify so strongly with the Figgs that I could practically hear Mike Gent and Pete Donnelly singing backup, in my imagination.
Then Graham played a song that made the whole long weekend worthwhile for me, the simple, heartfelt, tender, beautiful song called "Depend On Me" from my favorite GP album, Deepcut to Nowhere. I had never heard GP perform this song live before, and this single song was so gorgeous it was the pinnacle moment of these two very great shows.
How do you follow that. You have to do another tender, beautiful, heartfelt song, but throw in a bit of (unintentional) comedy beforehand. The intended song was "Somebody Saved Me," but none of the harmonicas on the stage seemed to be in the right key. This led Graham to tell that when he was learning to play the guitar, he didn't know the name of chords, so he called them by animal names -- anteater, hippo, etc. So he couldn't find his platypus harmonica .... and played the song with just guitar.
There were a few more changes from the night before. He did "Pink Cadillac," a Bruce Springsteen song he performed on a Bruce tribute album a few years ago. He told the same Jasper's "singing pirate" story, admitting it was a lie. If he doesn't go into doing celebrity impressions he can make an album of covers of songs from TV adverts. "Local Girls" became the singalong for the night.
Again, after the gig Graham mingled with the crowd, selling merch and chatting up the fans. These were two very good shows in two very good venues, more than worth the trip.
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