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... by Joanne Corsano ... joanne@picturelake.com

Mike Gent and Graham Parker
click thumbnail to see a photo gallery
of the concert

Graham Parker, vocals, Fender electric guitar, Gibson acoustic guitar, harmonica, kazoo; Mike Gent, vocals and guitar on two songs

(H) means harmonica, (K) means kazoo. I probably got these right.

Gibson acoustic:

Fender electric:

Nothin's Gonna Pull Us Apart - Lost Track Of Time - Slash and Burn - Between You and Me - Lady Doctor - White Honey - Howling Wind - Not If It Pleases Me

encore

Don't Ask Me Questions

Gibson acoustic - with Mike Gent Graham Isn't Dead - Soul Shoes

High Horse

Slash and Burn

Graham Isn't Dead

I've seen Graham Parker quite a few times over the years, since I first saw him in Feb. 2004. It's the 50th anniversary of his first album, Howling Wind, put out in 1976, when he was recording as "Graham Parker and the Rumour." He never achieved the fame of a few of his British contemporaries, although this lack of fame didn't stem from lack of talent as a songwriter, singer, or live performer. Throughout his career he continued to release great studio recordings, none of which needed the backing of the band known as The Rumour to achieve excellence.

But we're celebrating a half-century milestone and how many pop stars are still in the business after that much time? It's evident from tonight's set list that Graham wants to emphasize that 50 year benchmark by performing primarily songs recorded with the Rumour. By doing so, he's making a lot of his fans happy, those folks who inexplicably prefer the early material from the albums he recorded with the Rumour. But, in my opinion he's selling himself short by writing up a 20 song setlist and only playing eight songs from non-Rumour albums. I find this setlist to be uninspired and uninteresting. To be fair, to compensate we had some especially good songs among those eight non-Rumour songs. I loved hearing "High Horse," that brilliant, toe-tapping condemnation of pretentiousness disguised as a children's song, and the Mike Gent-Graham Parker duo "Graham Isn't Dead." I'm afraid the wild creativity of the set lists of the years from 2004 - 2012, the years I was seeing a lot of GP concerts, is a thing of the past. I also think GP is dwelling on the past in a way that seems sad, but maybe is inevitable; a new song that he did is literally called "I Live In the Past."

To get back to the Howling Wind album, what a pity no record company picked up on the idea of a 50th anniversary reissue of GP's first album. The lack of a Howling Wind remaster seems like a big gaping hole on your local record store shelves. Personally, I would have enjoyed a Howling Wind Naked release, perhaps a straight rock interpretation without the horns, or even an acoustic reinterpretation of the songs on that debut album. Fifty years down the line, that seems like it would be a celebration of the fact that we are all still here, playing and listening to GP's great music. That GP had no merch at all of his own to sell at this anniversary show was sad.

But instead of a reissue of the album, we have a book written by an American author, Jay Nachman, about the recording of the album. It's a well researched read, with biographical info on GP's early life leading up to the serendipitous meeting with the members of the Rumour. It also includes a lengthy section on the prehistory of the Rumour band, and also includes ruminations on the songs on the albums by various musicians. Jay himself is accompanying the tour and has copies of the book for sale, but it seems a little odd that it's the only merch for sale since GP himself doesn't see a penny (or euro) from the sale.

Graham wasn't up to his usual standards of witty banter in the show. The solo shows have always been distinguished by his abilities as a stand up comic, but this time around he really wasn't funny at all. It might have been because it was the second show of the tour and he was just getting warmed up. He did make an effort to tell the story of how he basically got lucky and fell in with the Rumour to record Howling Wind, and in doing so alienated himself from some of the other British music stars of the day, but the story was basically baffling and not funny at all. His guitar playing was awkwardly rusty, too, although I would happily overlook that as being due to this being the second show of the tour. I do need to mention that his singing remains as good as ever.

He was wearing the brace on his right wrist that he had in last year's tour, when he was making a joke out of the injury and ongoing neuropathy in his hands that made this brace a necessity, but he didn't actually mention the brace today. His stage clothes were a mostly gray ensemble, gray t-shirt, gray trousers, and a jacket of a neutral color.

Good thing Mike Gent of Graham's frequent backing band The Figgs (they were his backing band on his stellar 2005 album Songs of No Consequence and also backed him on several live tours) was there. The two songs at the end of the show when he sat in were the highlight of the show. The two songs were "Graham Isn't Dead," a cowrite available on Mike's Bandcamp page, and a rockin' version of "Soul Shoes."

This was my ninth time seeing GP at the Bull Run and other than the somewhat weird blue stage lighting, I recommend it as a place to see a concert.

Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with content relating to the Chairman.

Here is a page with a handy list of links to all pages on this website with content relating to Mike Gent and his band The Figgs.