The singer-songwriter played a solo acoustic six-night residency at the west London venue performing from across the anthology of his work, following last year’s dates at the same venue.
Going straight into his set, Lowe’s first song was a cover of his previous band, Rockpile – ‘Heart’. He then performed the rockabilly ‘Long Limbed Girl’ from 2007 studio album, ‘At My Age’, featuring non-lexical and harmonic vocals, and ‘I Live On The Battlefield’; its swinging guitar driving the rhythm.
Revisiting ‘At My Age’, he slowed things down for ‘Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day’. As well as his own material, he performed many covers, beginning with Bee Gees’ single ‘Heartbreaker’; a song he recorded in 2018 as a fan of the band and made his own. He also played the silently creeping guitar of Burt Bacharach’s ‘Blue On Blue’.
Lowe then shared a song he wrote for another artist he admires, American rhythm and blues singer, Mavis Staples, with ‘Far Celestial Shore’. He included a hit from his second album ‘Labour Of Lust’, 1979 single ‘Cruel To Be Kind’ and finished his main set on John Fogerty-style roots rock song ‘I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock ‘n’ Roll)’ from 1984 album, ‘Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit’.
Continuing from the same album, for the encore he was joined on guitar by swamp blues musician and support act C.C. Adcock to perform ‘Half A Boy and Half A Man’, ending on another Rockpile track, ‘When I Write The Book’.
25/11/22: Nick Lowe @ Nell’s, London.
Photo © Ayisha Khan.
© Ayisha Khan.