Eels - Astoria, London, 23/6/2006

  by Charles Howarth

published: 22 / 6 / 2006

intro

When the Eels toured last year, it was with a string quartet. On their latest tour, they have , however, returned to their rock roots. Guest reviewer Charles Howarth catches them at a show at the London Astoria

I can still remember the first time I ever heard Eels. I guess I could claim that it was some sort of noble endeavour but the truth is that I’d struck upon an ingenious plan to make a quick buck. My intention was to "utilise" [undoubtedly my favourite euphemism for "stealing"] my elder brother's CD collection, which, even at the tender age of 16 was already mountainous, by making copies of his CDs and selling them off at school for two pounds a pop. The first CD I ever copied was 'Daisies of the Galaxy'. I’d never heard it before, but I was intrigued by the unusual cover design which looked like some sort of propaganda poster, and I’d heard that 'Beautiful Freak' was a wicked album. After making the CD, in the enterprising spirit of good business, I decided I should listen to it to make sure it worked…after all I didn’t want to disappoint my customers… and so I threw the copy in the CD player. From the first few bars of 'Grace Kelly Blues' I was in and by 'Wooden Nickels'and 'Selective Memory' I was hooked. I never got around to copying any others CDs. Instead I spent that evening listening to the album and then rummaging through my Dad’s collection to find a copy of 'Electro-Shock Blues'. If nothing else I have Eels to thank for protecting me from an impending life of copyright abuse, but more to the point, I’d belatedly discovered an amazing band. (I’ve still got that original copy of 'Daisies' sitting at home next to my - legally purchased – version, just in case anyone from DreamWorks is wondering.) Aside from all of this, and despite my affection for the band I didn’t get around to seeing them live until last year when E was touring with his string quartet. The venue I saw him grace on that occasion was the Royal Albert Hall, and I was right to guess that when I saw Eels step-out at the London Astoria that a very different gig was in order. Gone was the string quartet, gone were the gentle ballads like 'If You See Natalie', or the cover of 'Girl from the North Country'. Gone too was the sipping whiskey complete with 9 inch Cuban. Tonight was business. E was dressed for it. He emerged all in black, Che Guevara-like, a ski mask atop his head. Alongside him Crazy Al was dressed in army boots and a T-shirt embossed with the word ‘Security.’ Al spent most of the time during the first few songs either standing menacingly arms folded across his chest or demonstrating his kung-fu and boxing skills at thin air before he decided to devote the majority of his energy to spraying squirty cream into the mouths - or sometimes eyes - of the front row. The Eels obviously wanted to rock. They opened with a few songs from their most recent album 'Blinking Lights and Other Revelations', which were played with energy and excitement, though while the thrashing was entertaining it lacked a little coherency and E’s vocals were decidedly flat in places. It didn’t, however, seem to really matter. The tightly packed crowd demanded some noise and Eels didn’t disappoint. Most of the songs were played at high tempo, especially 'Dirty Girl' which they romped through in about 2 minutes with lots of drums. After that the pace abated somewhat and we were treated to the highlight of the set; a melancholy run-through of 'A Magic World', played simply by E with only teasing electric guitar as accompaniment. 'Railroad Man' continued in this vein and was one of the few songs to remain from the ‘Eels : With strings’ setlist. A nice touch was the version of 'Last Stop: This Town' which, contrary to the rest of the set, lacked the funky sound it has on the album Electro-Shock Blues and was played closer to a melodic ballad. Although the set probably contained too many covers the encores rounded things of well, with I Like Birds fitting particularly well into the feeling of the set. I’m not sure I enjoyed this gig as much as the ‘Eels: With strings’ tour. But I think this was more down to personal taste. You have to respect an artist that does what they want to do rather than just acting the crowd pleaser, and E has certainly done this. After a year of string accompaniment and drums made out of barrels and boxes he wants to rock and if that is what you are after, Eels, in their current incarnation, certainly won’t disappoint. Set List : The Other Shoe Old Shit/New Shit Rock Show [Iggy Pop] Crazy Love [Willy Dixon] Eyes Down After The Operation Dirty Girl Jesus Gonna Be Here [Tom Waits] Mother Mary That's Not Really Funny My Beloved Monster A Magic World Rags To Rags I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart Last Stop: This Town Not Ready Yet Railroad Man Dog Faced Boy Souljacker Pt.1 I Put A Spell On You [Screamin' Jay Hawkins] That's Life [Frank Sinatra] 1st Encore : Cancer For The Cure I Like Birds 2nd Encore : Saturday Morning You Are The Quack [Smoosh]

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