From: kat
| Nickless. My friend and I showed up early enough to get balcony seats in the middle which is a decent view but better for sound. DJ Wayne was whatever and his job seems pretty cushy to me. The band came on a little late, but it was no big deal. The first thing I noticed was that Richard looks like he put on a little muscle when compared to last year at the Warfield. The second thing I noticed was a gaping blackhole stage left where Nick should be. The third thing was that either Richard was really wasted or he was just burned out. They opened with "Space and Time" and continued through Urban Hymns with only a couple three songs from NS and ASIH (the set list was pretty much the same as the other shows with no surprises). It was like the Verve Unplugged. The sound was great: nice, loud, and clear. The lights were great with the strobe and the psychedelic effects. BJ Cole gave some of the songs, and especially DDW, a strange country feel to it that did not work at all for me. In fact, as much as I like the slide, I would rather have not had it there. Even though Richard is not the best guitar player, it would have been better not to try and fill in for Nick and stick with the acoustic sound. As a whole the band was good, but nothing like I saw last year. There was no energy. Richard was held back from his usual leonine prowling because of the guitars and didn't even sing all of Come On, Jones looked like he wanted to rip into something like Gravity Grave or This is Music, Salisbury was good but there was not a sure confidence last night, and Tong was good. That's it, good. Last night was good, not great, just good. And for a live Verve show, good is not really all that good. If they will no longer be the Verve (without Nick), I am sorry I went because it was so lacking in energy. If they are taking a break and coming back with Nick I have more than happy I saw them because it makes me love their music even more. |
From: Steve
| On one hand, I'm glad I went. On the other, and
especially if it's the last time I ever see any incarnation of Verve, I will
be p!ssed. The show was largely a locktep march thru a very over-rehearsed setlist. I thought the same thing about their show here in Nov (with the FULL band), but this was even moreso. On the one hand, I give props to RA and co for going ahead with the tour w/o Nick. But on the other hand, I find it difficult to call the group I saw on Sat "Verve" (or even "THE Verve"). They did their best. What more can you say? The beginning of the show was pretty good. BJ did an acceptable job, but I couldn't hear the added percussionist at all. Things were going okay (just okay, tho) until they got to Weeping Willow. I thought, "Okay, this is where we find out just how much they're missing Nick". Well, the verdict is: ALOT! I felt a bit sorry for Mr Cole -- if he had tried to mimic Nick's parts, he would have sounded too much like he was trying to BE Nick (and nobody could pull it off with any success anyway) and his re-working of the guitar bits came across as very mediocre. Too bad, because he's obviously a very talented musician. I would have respected the show and the band a LOT more if they had just decided NOT to play BSS. It seems to me that that song had a lot to do with their current situation. It was a pretty weak attempt, IMHO. It was nice to hear This Time and Velvet Morning and So Sister, and I thought Come On was pretty good. Other than that, it was incredibly mediocre. I can't say I was disappointed, because I knew what I was getting myself into. But I was nowhere near blown away, either -- a first at any Verve show (this was my fourth time seeing them). Will I go see them IF they come back 'round w/o Nick? Doubtful. Will I buy a new album IF they record w/ Nick? Undoubtedly. |
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