From: Stephen Williams
| THE VERVE. Wednesday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom,
Manhattan. Touring on the strength of one massive hit song, this British
band is going through some troubled times. THE VERVE'S 15-minutes-of-fame clock is ticking. It may have run down. One adjective you don't want to include in a review of an alternative-rock band is "turgid." So consider "enervating" as a substitute. And "disappointing" is also an appropriate way to describe The Verve's long-awaited 90-minute performance Wednesday at theHammerstein. For this writer, who found the British band's impeccable "Urban Hymns" to be one of last year's best albums, The Verve's New York stop on this tour was one of the summer's most anticipated events. The single from "Hymns," the lush "Bitter Sweet Symphony," had melody with heft and a soulful reading by Verve founder Richard Ashcroft. In the U.K. and the U.S., Ashcroft has risen to rock-star status on the strength of thatsong. But there were ill vibes about. The quartet's gifted lead guitarist, Nick McCabe, quit before the tour began, because he was "stressed" (the band had dissolved once before, in 1995, and then regrouped). Massive Attack was to be the high-profile warm-up for The Verve. They quit the tour. Anticipating poor ticket sales, promoters across the country opted to downsize: Originally booked for a night at Madison Square Garden, The Verve instead played two at the much smaller Hammerstein. Without McCabe, the willowy Ashcroft is left to shoulder all the weight and angst of The Verve's intense lyrics, and claw against the band's trademark wall-of-guitars music and the powerful racket of drummer Peter Salisbury. Ashcroft's droll stage persona, which he punctuated occasionally by waving his thin arms, and his monochromatic voice, had no chance Wednesday of lifting his stand-offish mates beyond, well, turgid. There were brilliant bookends to the show - the subtle hooks and vivid images of "Space and Time," the majesty of "Symphony" - but in between The Verve plodded through marginal material and displayed not a whit of personality. And the quality of the sound was atrocious - I thought the band had brought in a reverb machine and set the dial on 10, so awful were the echoes, but a Ballroom veteran said that all acts sound terrible there. A couple of times Ashcroft played a few notes on an electric piano. Maybe the piano was unplugged. The notes evaporated before reaching the first balcony. The audience poured enthusiasm - many of the band's countrypersons were in the room - as The Verve marched through a set list that included a blend of pretentious art rock ("Soul Sister," "Velvet Morning") and campy, overblown psychedelia. The pre-encore finale, "Come On," with its yellow-amoebae videos and billows of blue smoke, isn't much more than bad Pink Floyd. Through it all, Ashcroft soldiered on, periodically donning a floppy hat, changing guitars on each tune, stopping the proceedings to have a chat with someone in the pit. He seems not much affected on stage "What you see is what you get" is what I think he said at one point and became animated and entranced at the end, singing "Bitter Sweet Symphony." It's an epic, and so what if it borrows a four-bar riff from an orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song, a loan that has cost The Verve big bucks in royalties. What The Verve needs now is harmony, not sympathy; rumors are the band will break up before summer's end. Time is not on their side. |
From: mgregos@mailexcite.com
| I saw the Verve at both their shows at the Hammersmith
Ballroom in New York and must admit that I did see merit in people's
comments about McCabe's absence as far as the first show was concerned.
McCabe's absence was at first obvious but Ashcroft's panache and superior
class and professionalism managed to pull things through. So as far as the
first show was concerned, they were good if a bit sterilized. Their second
show was a different story altogether. I dont know what transpired in those
24 hours (maybe they felt they had to exorcise the demons that, among other
things, caused an injury to their tour DJ, or maybe he felt he had support
from his family in the crowd) but they made a great effort to improve the
show. The sound was better and the band seemed more together. Space and
Time, TDDW, Lucky Man, On Your Own, History were stunning. Ashroft's voice
sounded terrific but he was inhibited from working up the crowd due to the
guitar strapped around his neck. Come On was good too but it is there where
McCabe's absence was clear. The Rolling People, a classic Verve track for
gigs, is hard to play without him the way the band is set up so they ommited
it altoghether.. BSS was slightly modified and improved. So Sister was
wisely replaced with Lord I Guess I'll Nevr Know as the second acoustic
track in the encore and See You in the Next One oozed class.. The crowd
loved it. The second show was a triumph because it was more spontaneous.
Ashcroft informed the crowd that this was the first tour he played guitar
and it was a wise move because the crowd appreciated his best efforts. Even
though they had technical difficulties with Ashcroft's guitar amp I for one
was glad to see them return to their earlier jamming improv groove while the
the problem was getting fixed. The crux of McCabe's absence is that
Ashcroft's star shines even brighter and his talents (piano included too)
are exposed for all to see. I for one was impressed with the risks he took
(and they paid off). At this rate The Verve will master their shows without
McCabe faster than people thought. So the question is: Can life continue without McCabe? There's no question that they are a great band. There's no question they need a guitarist (Spiritualized?). It's just that without McCabe they have to work twice as hard to prove it. And tonight they did. Michael Gregos |
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