Monday, July 16, 2007

The Man In Black

Just how good was Frank Black @ the Shepherds Bush Empire last night? The show started with Frank playing a nice short solo set on acoustic guitar. He looked cool and dangerous in his 'man in black' guise; Black suit, dark red sunglasses and black nail polish. (An aborted) Velouria and Cactus were his only nods to his Pixies past. This was a show designed to highlight his solo career.

The band came on and kicked in, playing with an incredible intensity - Frank singing like had to get every word out before exploding and taking the universe with him. New song Threshold Apprehension nearly blew up the building.


It's the first time I've seen Frank perform without a guitar and I've got to say he makes a really enjoyable rock 'n' roll front man. Mic in hand he owned the stage, prowling around like a man on a mission. As each song ended he decided which song to play next and shouted/growled it out to the band. They obliged and gave a tight energetic performance - seemingly so much more vital than Frank's old band The Catholics. The drum tech looked a bit worried as big Black Francis sat astride the bass drum, screaming a song into the face of the drummer, shaking the cymbal stands and hitting them with his microphone. Did I say intense?

New solo 'best of' 93-03 out now. frankblack.net

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was at the gig and I was fuming by the end of it. I didn't come to see Frank Black performing metal versions of his songs. Perhaps I've missed something here, but where did it state Frank would be unleashing the beast with a bunch of Limp Bizkit wannabes? He was blind drunk as well - not a good look for a man in his 40s who ends up effectively humping the drums. I just felt like he had a screw loose somewhere. Granted, his performance as a rock frontman was brilliantly energetic, but if I'd known about this change of direction then I wouldn't have bothered forking out £40 for two tickets.

Linda

weirdcritter said...

Gulp! I can't say I noticed a change in direction - to me he seemed more focused than he has for a while. I guess I'm more of a fan of his earlier solo work so I loved 'Freedom Rock' and the acoustic versions of 'Sir Rockabye' and 'I Heard Ramona Sing'.

As for seeing him hump the drums, well that's something I'll remember for years to come :-)

Anonymous said...

Well I guess I'm more of a fan of his Catholics stuff - though from memory pretty much all the tracks he performed were more screechy and heavy than on the albums, and the metal guitars used didn't fit in with the original sound of the songs at all. Ah well, I'm glad you enjoyed it anyway!
Linda

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, will have to agree with Linda on this one.

Leading candidate for Most Disappointing Gig of the year...

weirdcritter said...

It's interesting that views on the forum are equally split. Some people loving it, some saying it was too noisy, some not liking the band, some saying he was pissed and/or pissed off, etc etc - This all baffles me.

I thought the band were technically very good and able to move quickly with whatever Frank decided to do. The post-acoustic part of the show was meant to be more 'Iggy Pop' than 'Jonathan Richman' and the shouting at the band stuff was all part of the performance.

Sure like everyone I would have preferred a few different songs
(including 'The Man Who Was Too Loud') but that's a different tour.

Maybe I enjoyed it more because I wasn't expecting too much? - I was slightly underwhelmed the last time I saw him solo and on the Pixies reunion tour.

Nice to read the comments. Well anyroadup, I'm looking forward to hearing bluefinger now.

'Rock Music' ;-)

Anonymous said...

Looks like nickyboy enjoyed it too

weirdcritter said...

Unlike me, Nickyboy knows how to write a review. He should allow comments on his blog.