Tim Burgess – review, Union Chapel, London
“It is good to be back in the
chapel. We are all friends here, right?” Tim Burgess states and pleads at the
same time. Of course, he doesn’t have to worry, Burgess has lots of friends
here, he has brought them all with him.
Burgess’ backing band comprises of
Mark Collins, the guitarist from his regular band the Charlatans, members of
the night’s support band Hatcham Social and Duffy, the organist from Primal
Scream and ex-member of the Charlatans.
Throughout the night Burgess
acknowledges this support, and shows a little of his vulnerability, by
regularly stepping aside so the audience can see the band in the spotlight.
It is the open spaces of Union
Chapel that showcase Burgess’ new album, Oh
No I Love You, almost ten years after the release of his first. Anybody
expecting any material from the Charlatans back catalogue will leave
disappointed but also, appropriately for a chapel, enlightened.
The slow building Tobacco Fields opens
proceedings and immediately highlights the expediency of an organ in a chapel
as Duffy fills the spaces with his swirly, textural patterns.
Burgess’ set begins to build and
the inter-band love-in is heightened further when Sean O’Hagan of the High
Llamas’ joins him on stage with a couple of violinists for a stirring rendition
of Hours.
When the cover of the Beach Boys’ Don’t
Talk (Put Your Head on my Shoulder) goes horribly awry, as Burgess not just
misses the high notes but gets nowhere near them at all, then a sympathetic
round of applause from the band and the audience shows that yes, we really are
friends here. He is just coming back from a bout of concert cancelling
laryngitis after all.
This puts a full stop on part one
of the show and far from stumbling Burgess just gets better. Teach me How to
Live emphasises the maturity of his new tracks and Thinking of You reveals the
Nashville influences at work on the new album.
The set closer, the new single
White has the loudest cheer of all as its indie pop groove, similar in sound to
the Charlatans, sends his oldest and newest fans happily into the freezing
night air of Islington.
Tonight Burgess has shown how making
friends can influence people. But perhaps instead of a Beach Boys cover, a
cover of the Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends would have been more
appropriate.
END
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