John Cale
Fear Is A Man's Best Friend - John Cale

In Concert

Glasgow 2007-01-22

Live at the ABC, Glasgow, UK, january 22, 2007.

The band:
Dustin Boyer – lead guitar
Michael Jerome – drums
Joseph Karnes – bass electric, upright bass

Setlist

CD1:

  1. Intro Drone
  2. Reading My Mind
  3. Ray
  4. Save Us
  5. Helen Of Troy
  6. Turn The Lights On
  7. Hush
  8. Outta The Bag
  9. Model Beirut Recital
  10. Common Cold
  11. Big White Cloud
  12. Walkin' The Dog
  13. Fear Is A Man's Best Friend
  14. Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll
  15. Ghost Story

CD2:

  1. You Know More Than I Know
  2. Gravel Drive
  3. Cable Hogue
  4. Jumbo In Tha Modernworld 1 (cut disc change)
  5. Jumbo In Tha Modernworld 2
  6. Gun / Pablo Picasso / Mary Lou

Review from The Herald:

John Cale, ABC, Glasgow
You could never accuse John Cale of resting on his now 40-year-old laurels. The creative force behind the Velvet Underground's more avant-garde moments has a new guise. The haircut told all. With close cropped sides and dyed pink tufts he looks every bit a new age punk.

Monday night's performance was a selection of recent material and some reworkings of classics, with Cale and his energetic young trio adopting a jagged new wave stance. The highlight was a new piece which he introduced only as "something you've not heard before". Whatever it was called, it had a marvellous filmic quality, combining electronica and driving percussion.

The mid-section was perhaps the closest the uncompromising Cale came to making the Celtic connection with three pieces on acoustic guitars, upright bass and minimal percussion. A severe and unerring riff held down for a quarter of an hour provided the backdrop for a segue of songs including Pablo Picasso and Mary Lou. Always the innovator, this was a bold, if not easy, attack on the ear. Those who expected the obvious would have been disappointed that there was neither a viola or a Velvet's track to be heard all evening."

© 1999- Hans Werksman