OK my fellow Internationalists, here's a rundown of the evening. DC is a little less than a two hour drive from my house. Even though the 9:30 Club is two hours away, I consider it my "home" venue as I've seen all my favs there over the years. Doors were set to open about 8pm and I figured we'd get there about 7:15 - 7:30 and queue up. In previous years I would have more than likely been around the first to get there if I was that early. To my surprise there were folks lined up around the block. Unheard of for a PW gig in DC!
As I settled in and got over the initial excitement I always have knowing I'm finally gonna see the man, I noticed it seemed as though they were playing tunes definitely selected by PW. Lots of SOUL/British R&B, etc. LOVED THAT! I had heard good things about The Rifles and they took the stage around 9:15 or so. I was surprised at how freakin' young they are. Or is it I'm just gettin' old? At any rate, they certainly won the crowd and I over after their brief set.
The venue really started to fill up at this point. It's about an average sized club with capacity of 1000 or so. And it was nice to see hardly any spaces in between the people as I know that would make The Guv happy to look out over. The band hit the stage a little after 10pm to a rapturous applause. Everyone was dressed in black and PW had "THE 22 Dreams Black Shirt" on that we've all become familiar with. Kind of made me chuckle a bit to see it yet again. They stormed into "Peacock Suit," which disappointed me a little as I was hoping for "Blink." Not too many surprises from then on for me. The standard set list for this leg of the tour. It's really so different when he's there in front of you belting out songs that I'm not too keen on and it doesn't fucking matter. I'm singing along and Rocking out to every one. "Shout To The Top" was GREAT! There was an extended version of "Wishing On A Star" with a massive guitar solo from Steve Cradock. The tunes from the new record sounded aces as well. I actually would have loved to hear a few more. I still don't know why "Cold Moments," hands down one of the best tunes on the record has yet to get some live airings. At any rate, it was a solid performance indeed.
A few bits of interest. It was PW's guitar tech's birthday, so Paul led the crowd in serenading him with the birthday song. That was fun! Paul seemed to be having a rip roaring time the whole gig, prancing around the stage, smiling, laughing, hugging everyone. My brother seemed to think by the end of the show he was pissed out of his head. Quite possible as "Malice" was pretty sloppy with Paul forgetting his singing cues and dropping the tambourine at one point. He was laughing it up during all this...and so was I watching it. It didn't detract from the gig though. It was great seeing him have such a good time. During the "sheared wood version of Wild Wood" it was just Paul with no guitar dancing around whilst singing. For some reason it just amazed me to see him really getting into the tune aside from singing it and, seriously, as awkward as it is to see his dance moves, I was floored watching the guy let go like that.
I was really proud of DC and all the noise they made to get Paul and band back to the stage for the encore. The highlight being "Broken Stones/Oh Happy Day" with an audience clap along with Paul banging the tambourine again prancing across the stage. After another roaring call from the crowd bigger than the previous one, they came back for "All You Need Is Love" and that was it. A fine performance had come to an end and I'm sure I had a big smile on my face along with everyone else in the venue. There is a small balcony overlooking the stage, directly across from where I was, and the kids from The Rifles hung out there for the whole performance drinking, laughing, and utterly enjoying every moment. It was a cool thing to see.
In a way, I'm glad this was the only show I saw as I probably would have been moaning about the set list otherwise, as it hasn't changed really that much in the past few months. But, I had a whale of a time and although I wouldn't consider it one of my top Weller gigs, it will no doubt be considered one of the funnest...funnest is a word right?
So here is my recording of the gig. It was recorded with my old mini-disc recorder. I've had it for about 15 years now and it's been a work horse indeed. As always, I do hope you enjoy!
Paul Weller
9:30 Club - Washington DC
September 13, 2008
01. Peacock Suit
02. 22 Dreams
03. Out Of The Sinking
04. All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You)
05. From The Floorboards Up
06. Sea Spray
07. Happy Birthday Roger
08. Shout To The Top
09. Wild Blue Yonder
10. Empty Ring
11. Invisible
12. Have You Made Up Your Mind
13. Porcelain Gods
14. Picking Up Sticks
15. Wishing On A Star
16. The Butterfly Collector
17. All On A Misty Morning/Magic Bus
18. Wild Wood
19. Echoes Round The Sun
20. Come On, Let's Go
21. Broken Stones/Oh Happy Day!
22. The Changingman
23. Town Called Malice
24. All You Need Is Love
Download Paul Weller - 9:30 Club - September 13, 2008 (zip)
Peace and SOUL,
Dave...
Internationalists! I'm back unusually quick, for me anyway, with a new show for your listening pleasure. This one is Paul's appearance at the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium. It's from 2000 when Paul was touring in support of Heliocentric, one of my favourite solo LP's. The record takes a lot of abuse, but I rate it quite highly. And I especially love some of the live versions of those tunes. Frightened has to be one of the best tunes he's ever written. The lyrics in Back In The Fire are superb. And I never get tired of hearing Love Less. Paul recently said the record was "unfocused" and it always amazes me when he sometimes slags off records or songs that I love. Also, the great bassist Edgar 'Summertime' Jones was touring with Paul during this period and he's really a silky smooth player. Love that guy!
