From: NME
| There's something lacklustre about The Verve the moment
they walk on. Their normal exhortations to "come on" seem muted by the
position that they currently find themselves in. How strange that after 12
months in which they've displaced Oasis as the most important rock'n'roll
group in Britain, they still arrive here knowing they've got something to
prove. It certainly feels like such considerations are weighing heavily on
their shoulders. From the outset (a curiously prosaic rendition of 'Space
And Time'), it's clear that they badly miss the space-age interventions of
Nick McCabe. The recruitment of BJ Cole and his steel guitar might have been
a bold attempt to repoint rather than recreate their greatest hits, but the
fact remains that where songs used to spiral upwards and outwards, they now
simply fizzle tamely. Not that there aren't still inspired and uplifting moments, it's just they tend to coincide with Ashcroft being either alone ('See You In The Next One') or sparsely accompanied ('The Drugs Don't Work'). Stripped of McCabe's fire and invention the longer (and usually more free-form) songs such as 'Weeping Willow' and 'Come On' simply meander lamely into the middle distance in a dust haze of steel guitar noise. They end with Ashcroft crouched centre stage promising to "blow the fucking sky out". His exhortation is followed by a 15-minute version of 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' that does little to match his claim. You're left hoping this isn't really the last time you'll see them playlive. Because this was certainly no way to say goodbye. |
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