Paul Weller’s Greek Theatre
show had only been underway a short period when he arrived at the snappy, new retro-leaning
ditty “That Dangerous Age.” The lyrical protagonist goes through a
midlife crisis, but this legendary rocker sure didn’t sing it from recent personal
experience.
Back home in England, Weller
is nearly as popular now at 54 as he was fronting the trailblazing punk/R&B
trio The Jam at 24. Headlining large venues and festivals is still the norm
there. All his solo albums have gone top 10. The strong current one, “Sonik Kicks,” came out last spring and entered
the U.K.
charts at No. 1. Noel Gallagher, Blur’s Graham Coxon, The High Llamas’ Sean
O’Hagan are among those who assisted in the studio.
Unquestionably, the
past few years have seen The Modfather (as Weller is affectionately known) craft
some of the most adventurous and compelling music of his lengthy career. Here
in America,
the singer/guitarist remains a revered cult figure among a brilliant talent
roster at North Carolina-based independent label Yep Roc Records.
Initial dates supporting “Sonik Kicks” included an entire run through
the new collection. Nowadays, Weller leans toward doing quick concert blitzes
through select few North American cities. Los
Angeles was the only proper West Coast stop in 2012,
yet The Greek didn’t come close to being sold out on Friday night. It was his biggest
SoCal appearance in 20 years; the last being at the Griffith Park venue too.
Clad in a black blazer,
t-shirt and gray pants, Weller and the five-piece band kicked off the 1 hour,
45-minute set with a surprise: “My Ever Changing Moods.” The smooth 1984 song,
recorded with the Style Council, is his best-known career hit stateside. It reached
No. 29 on Billboard’s Hot 100. That immediately got the crowd excited; a fierce
take on The Jam’s “Running on the Spot,” even more so.
“When Your Garden’s
Overgrown,” one of six “Sonik Kicks” tracked played, surmises what Syd Barrett
might have done if he never joined Pink Floyd. Longtime guitarist Steve
Craddock supplied squelching effects amid some rattling percussion.
“This is from way back in the
last century,” said Weller, before unveiling “Just Who is the Five O’Clock
Hero?,” another choice nugget by The Jam (from 1982’s “The Gift,” also subject of a
new U.K.
deluxe 30th Anniversary CD reissue). Andy Crofts’ organ solos brought it to a new level. That
was followed by the mellow soul vibe of Style Council’s “The Cost of Loving”
and spiky “Carnation.”
One of the evening’s many standouts
came via the epic trippy rock of a revamped “Foot of the Mountain,” where amazing
wah wah guitar work from Craddock (that Weller later joined) resulted in a
plenty of loud cheers.
Weller handled keyboards on
Style Council’s watery chill out ballad “Long Hot Summer” and the psychedelic
new “Dragonfly,” featuring lyrics by young daughter Jessie. His passionate
vocal on the ballad “You Do Something To Me” was gorgeous as ever. The same
held true for “Moon on Your Pyjamas” (a languid slow burner written in the ‘90s
about one of his sons) and the sleek “Above the Clouds.”
The Jam’s Beatlesque was lean
and mean – a real crowd pleaser. The frenetic “Kling I Klang,” inspired by
Krautrock act Neu!, and Style Council’s vibrant “Shout to the Top!” (here with
a Aztec Camera-styled acoustic guitar shuffle, plus reverb-laden Weller vocals)
elevated the intensity level several notches.
Entering the home stretch,
Weller suddenly seemed agitated by The Greek’s 10:30 p.m curfew. A high energy “Strange Town”
sounded sharp, with the audience clapping along and dual guitar runs from
Craddock and his boss. The dark, almost gothic “Around the Lake” featured
spooky vocal effects and an intense guitar workout to finish the main set.
Finally, the tender “Broken
Stones,” with Weller back on keyboards, and the wicked late ‘60s psychedelic
rock undertones of “The Changing Man,” ended the evening on a high note.
Sharon Jones & the Dap
Kings formed a decade ago in Brooklyn, helped popularize a classic R&B
revival in the 2000s and became in-demand studio/live players for the likes of
Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson, Al Green, Rufus Wainwright and others. Two of
their albums have sold more than 100,000 copies each.
The
tight 10-piece group (complete with
horn section and backing vocalists) performed a 45-minute warm up set in
L.A. that was a
revelation for newcomers. Jones totally commanded the stage and reveled
in the music. She danced up a storm,
kicked her legs up in the air and let some soulful wails loose like Tina
Turner. Jones could also be subtle, at times recalling Irma Thomas.
Among
the sizzling highlights were a pair of
tunes from 2010’s “I Learned the Hard Way”: “Without a Heart,” where
Jones
invited an older male fan onstage to humorously gyrate alongside her and
the
conga-driven “She Ain’t a Child No More”; the feisty "New Shoes" (as is
"I'm gonna walk right out that door"); a slinky cover of Gladys Knight's
"Giving Up." An extended closing number saw Jones take "everyone back
to 1965" where she demonstrated various popular dances of the era (The
Boogaloo, The Jerk, The Pony, Camel Walk, Tighten Up, Peppermint Twist).
It was like a cross between the old T.A.M.I. Show and Soul Train.
Setlist: My Ever Changing
Moods/Friday Street/Running on the Spot/Wake Up the Nation/That Dangerous
Age/When Your Garden’s Overgrown/Just Who is the Five O’Clock Hero?/The Cost of
Loving/Carnation/Foot of the Mountain/Long Hot Summer/Dragonfly/You Do
Something to Me/Moon on Your Pyjamas/Science/Above the Clouds/Start!/Kling I
Klang/Shout to the Top!/The Attic/Strange Town/Up the Dosage/Around the Lake
Encore: Broken Stones/The
Changing Man
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