Venue:
The Stables, Wavenden
Date: 12/02/2025
To the Stables to see Nick Lowe! Or, more correctly, Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets. Our journey there was enlivened by a tyre blowout in a pothole which was fun but we limped home and started again in Car 2 and made it in time to miss the support and have a restorative glass of wine.
The Stables is one of my favourite venues – great sound, excellent facilities, decent leg room, good views from all seats. Tonight was no exception.
Nick bounded on looking dapper as ever in patterned cream shirt, chocolate brown slacks and suede loafers. How does he continue to look so good? Avuncular as ever, he welcomed us to the evening promising lots of songs both old and new, Hurrah!
Then it went weird. I had not seen him with Los Straightjackets and they bounded on to great cheers so I was clearly in a minority, but I found the masks thing very disturbing. Why would you want your backing band to look like members of The Joker’s gang or the serial killer from a Scandi drama? We didn’t like it at all and had we realised they were on we wouldn’t have gone. Several couples left swiftly not to return so I suspect there was some triggering going on. Which was a shame as they are a great band and I’ve never heard Nick with better backing, even in the days of Geraint Watkins and Bobby Irwin.
The serial killers did a mini set during which Nick changed cozzi into a black and white patterned shirt and back slacks. Cool. They played much from the back catalogue including “Half a boy and half a man” which is a favourite and I hadn’t heard him do before, and some stuff from the new album which was fun too.
It would have been a great evening but for the fact that actually looking at the band was so uncomfortable. I repeat, though, I’m in the minority and I know most of the audience loved it judging by the wholehearted applause.
The audience:
All fairly ancient which is normal for The Stables and that’s the way we like it. Well behaved, enthusiastic and slightly better turned out than the crusty bunch of folkies we saw filing into the smaller room to see Phil Beer. No talking, no phones in the air, no traipsing to the bar and back multiple times.
It made me think..
Read the bill properly. Than you will know who you’re going to see. Der.
I wonder what the 6 degrees of separation might be, between Lowe and Beer, but I bet it has something adjacent to Geraint Watkins.
P.S. It does! The erstwhile Balham Alligator and current Slim Chancer used to be one of Nick Lowe’s Impossible Birds. And appears, as does Phil Beer, on the Pete Townshend commissioned Woody Guthrie tribute by Reg Meuross. Out 4 weeks tomorrow.
Phil for me. Pint of 6X?
Snakebite.
Agree about the masks. I saw them last summer and it was fine, but I thought it was kind of phoned in with Nick even leaving the stage for a lengthy period. I think I have seen him enough times now. Personally I preferred the band he had about 15 years ago, Geraint Watkins, Johnny Scott etc. Of course he’s much older now, as am I.
On reflection I’d rather see that band too. “Gentleman” Johnny Scott to give him his full title.
We’ve loved his music and seeing him live over the years but have gone right off him since he got together with Los Straightjackets.
The Stables is a great venue though. We haven’t been for a while, is the restaurant still staffed with Mrs Overall volunteers?
The restaurant didn’t reopen after lockdown sadly. Their fish and chips before a gig was always a treat to look forward to. I sat eating it before a Martin Barre gig listening to Dave Pegg loudly telling his mates at the bar what a nightmare it was trying to learn the Jethro Tull set. Happy days.
I hear the restaurant is reopening shortly, with the main feature being Pizza
That’s a shame, it’s also made me try and remember just how long ago we were last there. It’s about 100 miles from where we live so we haven’t been that often.
I remember we were there to see Josh Rouse once and they ended up having dinner at the same time as us on the opposite table.
Another time we got there far too early to see Ian Hunter on his acoustic tour, the main doors were open but there was literally no one else there apart from Mick Ralphs who was at the bar having a beer. I was tempted to ask where he got it from but as usual I bottled out of speaking.
I’ve seen Nick Lowe with Los Straightjackets a couple of times and that’s enough for me now. I feel that the set sounds samey and loses a bit of charm. I much prefer his band around the time of ‘At My Age’. I’ll look for a solo set in future.
I prefer Nick with a band and I think Los Straitjackets fit the bill perfectly – I think the masks give them a kind of anonymous air which means Nick is the star. It never occurred to me that they had any sinister air at all, in fact the only thing I found off putting was that the mask of one of the guitarists looked a bit like one of those really nice Lindor chocolate balls wrapped up in red foil!
I’ve seen him a few times at the Stables (which is about 15 mins from my front door) but I decided that the Highbury Garage would be better so I added an hour to my journey each way and went there last night.
It was a fabulous atmosphere (something that always seems missing from the sterile Stables) and it was clear people were having fun from the off with people even singing along to the opening song (So It Goes).
The only downside to the whole evening (apart from a big chunk of the M1 being closed on the way home!) was the support from the lead singer of Hot Chip. He was dreadful.. and I made my judgement before I knew who he was!
I think my favourite Nick Lowe ‘backing band’ was Rockpile!
I thought that about the Lindor, especially having eaten about 6 of them the previous night.
I’ll trade an easy journey over atmosphere every time.
I usually never bother with gigs as I much prefer listening to the records and this preference was reinforced on me when I dragged myself out to see Nick Lowe a few years ago with this same band and set up. The set was ridiculously short and at least half of it was taken up by this rather tedious twangy band who ruined Nick’s own songs with their overbearing approach. I might be tempted to venture out of the warmth and comfort of my den to see him again at some point. But only if he drops the band. It surely can’t take 25 minutes to change a shirt?
The break was more like 10 mins but even in the encores they did their own encore and Nick stood to one side. Weird.
Yes, they only do 5 songs on their own so probably 15 mins max. That means NL is playing for about 1hr 20 mins which, is no shorter than is expect if he played straight through. Even then I was surprised how many people left before the first encore and didn’t get their money’s worth!
I did enjoy their version of The Warmth of the Sun
The cunning thing, from a business POV, about having a masked band is that substitutes can be fielded without the audience being any the wiser.
I had the same thought and wondered if the band was the same one as I last saw back in 2019 – turns out that it is…. apparently.
I think the show would be very different if he’d chosen The Residents instead!
Arf. Or Slipknot. Kiss, even. The Wiggles might cut it mind, and maybe the Wombles.
Or Animal Kwackers.
They were really good last night, in Glasgow. I like th space LS leave in NL’s songs, and the dynamics. Good tones to the instruments, too. The sound was excellent in The Pavilion
Nice set list, too. Hadn’t expected “I Live on a Battlefield”, and the segue from “Bride” to “PLU” was nicely done. Good to hear the latter as a full band song rather than as the solo version Nick’s done the last few times I’ve seen him
A very fine gig