Live reviews

Brussels 2003-07-02

Ancienne Belgique, July 2, Brussels, Belgium
Review by Markus Horn

I had had great expectations when I went to see John Cale performing with a band for the first time in my life. I had seen him some years ago in Cologne performing his songs on the piano accompanied by a string quartett and joined by guest artist B.J. Cole. This had been one of the best concerts I had ever seen.

Now the concert was a big disappointment. First Cale played some of his new songs wich might have worked with an audience sitting in a classical concert hall but failed to make any impression under the circumstances of a "rock concert". Then it got worse and worse. People got exited to hear Cale perform Venus in furs. I must admit that I liked it, too, but what is the use of becoming sentimental in such a way? Later on Cale played the electric guitar on Gun and Pablo Picasso and now things went really bad. The band had rehearsed to little - that was quite obvious throughout the concert. The guitarist played a lot of unneccessary notes and the drummer and bass player were not able to deliver any kind of groove. I asked myself: why are you doing this, Mr. Cale? Well, maybe he needs the money.

© 1999- Hans Werksman