Following the night with Elvis Costello, came another musical icon, Marianne Faithfull, to the same stage at the Cultural Centre.
Again, I don’t really know much about her music, though I have admired her for a long time since I listened to her album “Broken English” (eh, I probably just borrowed it from the library), easily charmed by her unique ‘broken’ voice. Only when YouTube was available that I got to see the footage of her singing when she was young and beautiful.
On stage now, her voice was simply powerful. With such a coarse voice of her, and her occasional coughing, I rather worried if she would lose her voice in the middle of the concert. Yet she managed to carry on (and enjoyed herself as she said) for more than 90 minutes.
The sound was not well balanced though. The drums were often too loud. The bass and the keyboard-piano-accordion-oboe-saxophone were not loud enough. The latter was played by the multi-talented Kate St-John. What a pleasant surprise! Yet often I could hardly hear Kate’s playing, and even the strong voice of the Marianne Faithfull was at times muffled by the loud drums.
But what really mattered was to hear the voice of Marianne Faithfull. It didn’t really matter that she was now fatter and didn’t seem more flattering than the average auntie-next-door. (Perhaps except her faces, which I could not really see at a 3xx dollar ‘cheap’ seat, and also her blond hair, which reminded me of her hairstyle when she’s young).
And she rocked. My false impression of her ‘Broken English” was more mellow and soulful than rock. But the concert was more rock than anything else. Indeed, I don’t remember when I last saw a female singer as rock as her. And a grandma as she was! The venue just seemed a bit too inhibitive for her sound. (And sadly there were many empty seats. Where have all the faithful gone?)
Only then did I learn that she had co-written many songs with Nick Cave. I dreamt to see the two singing on stage together.
Honestly I was only familiar with the song “As Tears Go By”, which I actually used to consider a Rolling Stones song (and one of the few that I really like of them). The song was beautifully played. The tone had suddenly changed from rock to folk. And finally Ms. St-John’s heavenly oboe really came out well here. I dreamt to hear Marianne and Kate sing this song together, as the latter vaguely reminded me of the younger Marianne.
Who were those sitting at the 800 dollars seat? They didn’t even bother to stand up and salute Marianne Faithful at the end. (My hatred of the rich now! Wish I were in their seats.)
There was only an encore. I thought there might be two, like Elvis Costello did. But I really shouldn’t ask for more.
Monday 21 March 2011
Saturday 19 March 2011
Elvis Costello, raw and mellow
At least this Elvis had come to Hong Kong. (He’s here two weeks ago.)
As a small fan of him, I could only afford to sit at the side of the stage and saw mostly his right side when he sang and played the guitar. And I wondered what it’s like for those sitting at the back of the stage and almost just saw his back throughout the night.
At first the sound did not come out very well, perhaps due to my abnormal position of the seat.
Yet, just one man and many guitars, he managed to pull off a good show, ending it with two long encores, which stretched the concert to two hours long. It surprised me that he could go on singing for such a long time. Indeed he just got more energetic as the concert went on. Naturally we could not but make our standing ovation throughout the concert hall to honour this veteran musician.
I must admit I haven’t listened to his music of recent decades, and I was not really impressed by his hit “She”, nor his slow-tempo and mellow songs. Actually, I’ve only got a collection album of his, and I prefer his earlier songs. I wished he had played some of my favourites, like “Accidents will happen”, “Chelsea”, “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, “Big Sister’s Clothes”. But at least I was consoled by hearing him sing oldies like “Watching the Detectives”, “Brilliant Mistakes” and “Alison”. I don’t particularly like “Shipbuilding” on the record, but it’s one of the most moving renditions of his in the concert.
There were light-hearted moments when he unplugged the guitar and approached the audience and sang. Without the amplifier, it sounded soft and serene, like hearing the singing of a street musician at night. And when he walked around and sang looking up at us at the side of the stage, I almost felt my lover-on-the-balcony moment. He just seemed to enjoy himself much, and so he had hummed a tune or two.
While I enjoyed the show and clapped my hands sincerely, at one point I couldn’t help imagine if only it were Roddy Frame singing here on the stage. On YouTube I had seen the video of him singing solo (also with an acoustic guitar) in a concert a few years ago. He had grown older, and his rendition was mellower and graceful, rather than becoming dull and affected as many singers do when they got old.
As for Elvis Costello, he still sounded so young when he played his old rock tunes. Not to mention the surprising ‘avant-garde’ moment when he sang in the dark and the audience was shot a blinding light during the last encore. Well, he isn’t really old.
As a small fan of him, I could only afford to sit at the side of the stage and saw mostly his right side when he sang and played the guitar. And I wondered what it’s like for those sitting at the back of the stage and almost just saw his back throughout the night.
At first the sound did not come out very well, perhaps due to my abnormal position of the seat.
Yet, just one man and many guitars, he managed to pull off a good show, ending it with two long encores, which stretched the concert to two hours long. It surprised me that he could go on singing for such a long time. Indeed he just got more energetic as the concert went on. Naturally we could not but make our standing ovation throughout the concert hall to honour this veteran musician.
I must admit I haven’t listened to his music of recent decades, and I was not really impressed by his hit “She”, nor his slow-tempo and mellow songs. Actually, I’ve only got a collection album of his, and I prefer his earlier songs. I wished he had played some of my favourites, like “Accidents will happen”, “Chelsea”, “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, “Big Sister’s Clothes”. But at least I was consoled by hearing him sing oldies like “Watching the Detectives”, “Brilliant Mistakes” and “Alison”. I don’t particularly like “Shipbuilding” on the record, but it’s one of the most moving renditions of his in the concert.
There were light-hearted moments when he unplugged the guitar and approached the audience and sang. Without the amplifier, it sounded soft and serene, like hearing the singing of a street musician at night. And when he walked around and sang looking up at us at the side of the stage, I almost felt my lover-on-the-balcony moment. He just seemed to enjoy himself much, and so he had hummed a tune or two.
While I enjoyed the show and clapped my hands sincerely, at one point I couldn’t help imagine if only it were Roddy Frame singing here on the stage. On YouTube I had seen the video of him singing solo (also with an acoustic guitar) in a concert a few years ago. He had grown older, and his rendition was mellower and graceful, rather than becoming dull and affected as many singers do when they got old.
As for Elvis Costello, he still sounded so young when he played his old rock tunes. Not to mention the surprising ‘avant-garde’ moment when he sang in the dark and the audience was shot a blinding light during the last encore. Well, he isn’t really old.
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