John Cale delivers a transcendent performance at the London Palladium
Last year, like Paul McCartney, John Cale turned 80. Also like McCartney, Cale shows no signs of slowing down as he embraces his ninth decade with youthful optimism and curiosity. Of course, when I say “optimism”, I refer only to the master composer’s undying zeal for the arts. His art, on the other hand, as his fans are well-accustomed to, studies the hidden beauty of darkness and decay. Rarely will you hear Cale sing of daisies and laughter – a rose garden, perhaps.
Last month, Cale treated us to his 17th studio album, Mercy. The release served few surprises where the aforementioned thematic trends are concerned, but he certainly showed broad strides of fresh inspiration as he welcomed modern styles and artistic collaboration. Having heard this perfectly dystopian record, I was eager to hear how the songs might be translated to the live stage, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Before Cale took the stage at the visually and audibly stunning London Palladium on February 8th, we were lucky enough to hear a brief set from Manu Grace. The up-and-coming artist hails from South Africa and showed of a pleasant array of insightful tracks as she juggled between her bass, telecaster and Korg Minilogue synth.
Before her final song, Manu gave thanks to the audience before humbly admitting that “sharing the stage with John Cale” was one of the “silliest” things that’s ever happened to her. After her exit, the audience, which ranged from teens in The Velvet Underground and Nico branded hoodies to Cale’s fellow octogenarians, waited in anticipation for the living legend to take his pew.
A dramatic synthesised hum rattled the walls in the moments before Cale and his band entered the stage to a warm roar of applause. With a quick nod to the audience and another to his guitarist, Cale launched into an impassioned recreation of 2006’s ‘Jumbo in tha Modernworld’ to kick off proceedings.
The second song of the set, ‘MOONSTRUCK (Nico’s Song)’, arrived as the first of five to be taken from Mercy. As the synthesised textures soaked the atmosphere, the audience was hypnotised by a visual reel behind the band, which warped between an animated side profile of the late Velvet Underground collaborator, Nico, and a photograph of her and Cale from the 1960s.
Throughout the set, the stunning visual effects were, as my friend and I later agreed, the cherry on top of a delicious set. The visual zenith came in the form of ‘NIGHT CRAWLING’, the first single of Mercy. As Cale powerfully reflected on blurry nights with David Bowie in disco-era New York City, a clip reel taken from the song’s stunning animated music video was displayed on the screen. In the clip, Cale and Bowie can be seen navigating bars and streets, sharing a few beers and cigarettes along the way.
After a few tracks, it was irrevocably clear that Cale had selected the perfect crew for the concert. His entourage consisted of a percussionist, bassist and guitarist, but they were no run-of-the-mill session men. Very seldom does one see a guitarist pause his solo to give his theremin a whirl, nor is it common for a conventional rock drummer to ditch the sticks in favour of his hands. Alas, during the eerie, enrapturing recreation of ‘Rosegarden Funeral of Sores’, possibly my highlight, they did just that.
The sonic alchemy owing to Cale’s affinity for the avant-garde didn’t stop there, however. Towards the end of the set, the bassist, who displayed as water-tight virtuosity as his bandmates throughout, created dramatic throbbing sounds with a previously concealed violin bow. Meanwhile, Cale, somewhat relieved of his occasional occupation as a violist, busied himself with an electric piano throughout most of the set, apart from ‘Cable Hogue’, during which he wielded a black Stratocaster to mix things up.
After a brief interval, Cale and his band returned to the stage for the encore, which consisted of just one song, a beautiful cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. Cale left the audience with one final glimmer of piano prowess for the memory banks. His characteristically deep, booming vocals throughout were, if anything, complimented by age as with the late Leonard Cohen or a fine wine.
As the vibrations abated, Cale gave one last nod of thanks to an appreciative and wholly satisfied audience. He finally left the mic with the words: “See you next time…”
John Cale, London Palladium, setlist:
- ‘Jumbo in tha Modernworld’
- ‘MOONSTRUCK (Nico’s Song)’
- ‘Rosegarden Funeral of Sores’
- ‘MERCY’
- ‘NIGHT CRAWLING’
- ‘Pretty People’
- ‘Wasteland’
- ‘Guts’
- ‘NOISE OF YOU’
- ‘Cable Hogue’
- ‘Half Past France’
- ‘OUT YOUR WINDOW’
- ‘Villa Albani’
- ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ (Elvis Presley cover)
