From: John Gills
| After years of waiting (this was my first live verve
experience), the eleven hours of waiting at the front of the Melody Maker
Stage on Sunday were probably the most difficult: hours on hours of crap
bands (i disagree with anyone who has compared Embrace to the Verve---no
comparison). Then, as the anticipation builds to a new level the setup is complete and some interesting soul music comes on "holy are you, there is no god but you" as if the fans weren't religious enough already. Lights swirl, a Persian rug sits centre stage, and the crowd surges toward the stage as the band come on w/ a barefooted Richard waving his arms up and saying something... They launch into A New Decade and into a magical live musical place. (as a note I'll admit that ANS wasn't my favorite Verve record, but it takes on a whole new meaning hearing it live) They continue with a setlist that seems pretty familiar by now (nearly every recent show has had the same?) with Slide Away--so great, and then This is Music: unfortunately I don't think the majority of the Reading audience got it. The Verve ARE music; incredible music. But, by this time of the show the crowd was so insane that I'd had my head kicked a few times by people surfing out of the crowd. I had waited to be at the front to see them, to hear them, to experience it, but didn't even have room to breathe (literally) and by the time they went into Life's an Ocean I had to jump over the barrier and stay at the side. The next person out after me came on a stretcher... It was sad not to have a good view, but it was easier to listen and nice to have space to trance at the brilliance of A Man Called Sun. As the songs continued so did Richard's between song babbling. Millions of "Come on!" and a great "why be over at the main stage (Metallica) when you could be here?" The sweet numbers where Richard got out the acoustic guitar were great (On Your Own, DDW, and later History). And it was amazing to see what musicians they are. Nick McCabe is my favorite guitarist of this decade. Nick stood stage left and faced his racks of gear (vox amp, wah wah, and lots of other effects) and did an incredible job of playing the same rich and open textures of the albums, live (on his les paul). Simon J. was so smooth, and still I really can't think of a more catchy bass line than Slide Away. Peter rocked out and really kept the vibe with both sensitive cymbals and all out rocking on the louder songs. Simon T. added a lot on an almost subliminal level, and seemed to just be paying lots of attention to his work. And Richard really does have a charisma that makes him shamanic, all highlighted by the Persian rug thing, the barefeet, and his crouching and his amazing voice. As a unit they just take you somewhere else. Now with this crowd thing...Coming from the states, it was difficult to imagine the hype surrounding the Verve in the UK these days (rightly so, they rule) and it showed in the make up of the audience. Surely, there were plenty of us who truly love these guys, but the majority only recognized the tunes off ANS (if even those). There were also plenty of teeny-bopper girls screaming "Richard", and something I had never dreamt of seeing at a Verve show: moshing/crowd surfing. I hope that they don't get that crowd at their stateside shows coming up. Back to the music...After some more heavy songs inc. Rolling People they left the stage to screams. As they came back on w/ Bitter Sweet Symphony it was obvious that the recent hype had made a lot of people show up--everyone cheered it on and sang along, then to my surprise, as soon as that was over people started leaving. The Verve went into a beautiful sparse version of History to end it. But that wasn't the end, Richard kept going on saying "History Liiive at Reading!! Can you fookin believe it, you thought it'd never happen...History Live at Reading..." The band were great. It really felt like I was at a historic show, not because it was Reading, but because it was the Verve. It was a vibe that people often talk about vintage Doors shows or whatever, but it's now, and the Verve have it (probably always have too.) |
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