The
great rock n roll’ keep them guessing game was in operation
at the start of the main set, as the three members of the
Eels arrived on stage minus E (Mark Oliver Everret), hitting
thumping bass lines and razor sharp riffs for the instrumental
introduction. Then the beaming laser spotlight spun sharply
around the venue before fixating on a side exit in the middle
of the room, where the colourful E appeared and made a Tyson
like entrance to the stage playing a harmonica and surrounded
by security personnel.
Termed the ‘2003 tour of duty’, quite what
the duty is remains a mystery. However, if it is to bring
some sincerity and fun back into music then it certainly
worked. All previous albums including ‘Beautiful Freak’ were
utilised, as the crowd were provided with ‘Novocaine
for the soul’ that was played with gusto like it was
a fresh new tune. The crude, morbid poetic nature of older
songs like ‘Dog Faced Boy’, ‘Souljacker
part1’ and ‘Last stop: This Town’ that
made the band big still impressed the masses. The latter
number had the usually buzzing audience stunned to silence
as the dark lyrics closed in on them:
‘You're dead, but the world
keeps spinnin' Take a spin through the world you left It's
gettin'dark a little too early Are you missing the dearly
bereft?’
The mercurial Mr.E despite singing the above mentioned
songs with heart declared that he was not at all sad, as
all evening he would joke with the audience and disclose
interesting facts like according to him the late great Barry
White was from Liverpool. This gave a whole new meaning to
the term E-learning. Mr.E expressed his pleasure and admiration
with the audience for their impressive rhythmic clapping
and implored them to do something nice for themselves the
next day:
“That jumper that you thought was out of your range….Go
and buy it.”
At one point during the evening
Mr.E was playing the piano with one hand and the drums
with another. Proceedings ended
on a high note with an upbeat song from the new album ‘Shootenanny’ entitled ’Somebody
Love You’ containing life enhancing lyrics:
‘You've got to be your good
friendSomebody loves you And you're gonna make it through’
A point well made Mr.E!
David Adair |
