John Cale @ the Lula LoungeSomething about the audience at last night's John Cale concert at the Lula Lounge made me feel a bit old. Oh yeah, it's because the crowd was old. I was not a Velvet Underground fan when they were together. I am far too young for that. But, I have been a fan for a long time, if somewhat after the fact. I was disappointed when the reunion tour a few years back fell apart in Europe. They never made it back here to play. Sterling died ten years ago, so that rules out any further hope of that happening.
(By the way, I am talking about John Cale, not J.J. Cale. The fact that people confuse these two has always irritated me. )
There was a positively geriatric couple sitting quite close by us (CG & I). I wondered if some of the crowd suffered any hearing loss. There were so few young people there. I find it difficult to believe that young people do not know who this man is. That made me feel old.
Cale and bandmates - who looked half is age at least - played lots of new material, but dipped into the back catalogue for a few key Cale tunes, like: Helen of Troy, Cable Hogue, Dirty Ass Rock and Roll, Leaving it up to You, Guts, and a freaky version of Gun. They opened with a crowd-pleasing Venus in Furs. Some songs sounded much improved, especially Dancing Undercover. My favourite tune from last night has to be the pimped-out version of Jonathan Richman's Pablo Picasso, originally released on Helen of Troy. I'll borrow from my neighbour's bumper-sticker: it was fukengruven.
Cale is playing again tonight and tomorrow.
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5 comments:
I would literally gnaw off my left arm to catch John Cale. You're feeling like a rock and roll senior citizen is not uncommon. The closer Iget to 30, the more I feel pop culture's moving towards a Logan's Run model - where good music has a shelf life and an expiration date in favor of crappy pop.
I'm rather embarrassed to be young most of the time. It's probably why I don't have many friends--sick of people assuming I know what they're talking about when they bring up some stupid celebrity or rapper. I am also jealous of you. It's times like these when my plans to move to civilized grounds (MTL) seem too far off.
Very cool! Cale is totally wicked! Must have been a great show.
I would love to see him. I have been a fan only since high school but I have my father to thank as he replaced all his old vinyl with CD'd over the fisrt fifteen years of my life so I had plenty of different things to listen to.
He's playing the Starlight in Waterloo tonight (Nov. 17th) for anyone who wants to make the trek to the hinterland...
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