Review in DN, Saturday 20 November 2010;
(First of all a nice photo of the Small Ensemble, with the following caption underneath; A stroke of luck. Lloyd Cole (in the middle) on tour with Mark Schwaber and Matt Cullen.
The best Lloyd Cole edition ever
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MUSIC
Lloyd Cole Small Ensemble
Stage: Södra teatern, Stockholm.
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The same week as 67 year old Keith Richards in an orchestrated media orgasm poses in different rocknroll-poses, another guitar-player enters the stage at Södra teatern. In high cut trousers, tucked in shirt, well parted hair. Absolutely sober.
Lloyd Cole is here again. And his attitude couldnt be more different from the likes of Richards. Cole is 49 but has been going on about midlife melancholia for a couple of decades or so by now. Maybe all his life. All the time he mirrors/reflects, almost in a literary fashion, what we all i.e. those of us who arent heroinaddicted guitarplayers- stumble upon in our slightly ridiculous lives. Feeling small, boring, unfashionable, grey. Incapable, and uninterested, of seeming exciting.
Lloyd Cole is the apostle of un-cool, and yet at the same time the coolest performer to pass through Sweden from time to time.
On stage he mocks his (in)capacity to tune the guitar whilst making small talk to the audience. He asks us what it is like transforming from socialdemocrats to center-right. He mentions the fact that his son is going to university and points out that a song-medley is only allowed for performers 40+.
The exact age of the two string-equilibrists Mark Schwaber and Matt Cullen flanking Lloyd Cole on stage is unknown to me, but it is a stroke of luck going on tour with them. Their amazing technique and feeling- on acoustic guitars, mandolin and banjo adds a fantastic sparkle to the songs. I wonder whether Lloyd isnt singing better as a result. The concert spans over the entire 26 year long back catalogue, but the minor yawns halfway through the set stays away this time.
It is quite possibly the best Lloyd Cole-edition ever, with never-ending highpoints; from the old Rattlesnakes (on mandolin) to the new fantastically beautiful Why in the world.
That Lloyd Cole, according to an article is said to have danced on tables in a Stockholm night-life hot-spot, or as in tonights closing number , had a Lost weekend in Amsterdam, is hard to believe. That was on the other hand before the arrival of mid life a long, long time ago.
NIKLAS WAHLLÖF
Translated by Young Idealist Pedro. Thanks!
Publication: DN
Publication date: 20/11/2010