Gig review: Ian Brown, HMV Picture House

Published on Wednesday 16 December 2009 08:49

ON A NIGHT when rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures were playing across town at the Corn Exchange, you'd be forgiven for expecting a bit of a depleted audience when Ian Brown took to the stage at the HMV Picture House. Not so.

Tickets to see various members from the Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin and Queens Of The Stone Age were like gold-dust leading up to last night's gig. The Picture House, however, was literally bouncing with the weight of fans who'd gathered to pay homage to the former Stone Roses singer.

Sweat dripped from the walls, the balcony shook, crowd surfers were dispensed like empty crisp packets, and not many could have departed the venue without getting soaked in someone else's lager.

Indeed, from the minute Ian Brown strutted onstage, pint after pint proceeded to get lobbed in his general direction. The stage hands employed to mop up every missed target were entertainment in itself, but, when one pint cup found its way on to the head of Brown's bass player – who, fair play to him, literally let it wash off him like water off a duck's back – the vocalist soon stopped the show, squared up to the audience, and invited the beer-flingers to take their chances. Nothing happened. But for those who didn't think this was much of a big deal, it's a plausible reason why Brown – who normally decorates his set with a good few Stone Roses songs – only played the one Roses tune. In this case, Fools Gold: an apt title given the amount of lager hurled.

Up until then, however, things had been going pretty well. Through tunes such as Love Like A Fountain and Golden Gaze, Brown's singing voice seemed in fine fettle, the 46-year-old's pipes only dipping out of a tune by a semi-tone (not bad for him) on a couple of occasions. Dressed in his obligatory Adidas apparel, as ever, Brown's stage act consists of running on the spot, spitting on the floor, and bashing his tambourine. At Brown's age though, his cocky, head-bobbing swagger makes him look like a middle-aged pigeon. The Nedfather if you will. Nevertheless, an Ian Brown gig is a compelling affair, even if it's because you never quite know what's going to happen next.

Later on, Brown made a brief, half-hearted speech about racist women being the next worse thing than racist men, but that was before unleashing some space-funk numbers from latest album, My Way. And it is his way. With session band members little more than perfunctory musicians devoid of any stage personality of their own, sometimes you have to concede that democracy makes for bad music – and possibly the very reason why Brown's solo career is so successful. He might have only coughed up the one Roses song to placate hardcore fans during the encore; Brown, however, did introduce his own Workout-With-Ian fitness tips though, cajoling the audience into exercising their shoulders in time with the music. Jane Fonda would have been proud.

Your view: 'We pay good money for the songs we want to hear'

Gavin McKenzie, 42, security guard, Meadowbank: "He didn't play too many of the old tunes, did he? No doubt getting back at all the folk who kept chucking their drink at him all night long. I can understand that, but he's an entertainer, too, and people pay good money to hear the tunes they want to hear."

Jim Cruickshank, 39, tour guide, Fountainbridge: "Well, I'm not too sure what to say about that really. The tunes at the beginning and at the end were good, but it was a bit lacklustre during the middle. Like Gavin says, we paid good money to hear the old tunes as well as the new ones. Can't complain about the atmosphere, though, everyone was really up for it tonight."

Alec Spence, 28, bank teller, Currie: "I had a great time. I couldn't get down the front so I sat up the back with my girlfriend, who kept giving me a hard time for cheering and shouting, but that's what these gigs are all about – having a good time. The guy's a legend and that was the first time I'd heard Fools Gold live. Top night all round."