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Paul Weller - Cardiff international Arena - 20th Nov 08 [Live]
November 24, 2008, 07:39 PM  I must say, as a fan of much of Mr.Weller's work I was excited to be offered the opportunity to review his headline tour gig at Cardiff International Arena on Thursday 20th November 2008.
On the way to the venue I was asked for directions to the CIA. I obliged the couple with the pertinent information they needed only to be asked "How come you are going to see Paul Weller? He's a bit before your time isn't he?" This question hit me hard and I quickly began to realize why Paul Weller's genre was often referred to as "Dad Rock". It wasn't until this precise moment that I realized that there was going to be a much older crowd attending the show tonight. That was not a problem for me by any means, it is just a testament to how many years Paul Weller has been making and performing his musical signature sound- and very well may I say!
After a quick burger van quarter pounder we are in the venue watching the support act. Although I did not catch their band name, they were quite possibly the most awful band I have ever seen live. Imagine soul cover band "Big Macs Wholly Soul Band" but without the quality Soul songs from days past which have instead been replaced with such mediocrity never seen before. In a nutshell, they offered a pub band quality performance, playing at a very large venue and only received a small venue applause. Not worth the time I wasted coming early to check them out.
After a short break Paul Weller comes storming on the stage to rapturous applause before kicking promptly into his set with "Peacock Suit"; looking as cool as ever and sporting his usual (although greyer looking) haircut and a nice Cherry Red Gibson SG. The CIA at this point is as busy as I have ever seen it and there are fans of all ages here to see Paul Weller. Weirdly each of those coming to hear songs from different decades and each not knowing some of Paul Weller's other work from the decades they are unfamiliar with. Although odd, this makes the gig more fun for everyone involved as there are new songs to be heard by all (unless of course you are a hardcore Paul Weller fan).
Over the course of the evening Paul Weller plays some really rocking tracks, with his excellent backing band rising to the occasion and showing their own worth as individual musicians. Now with a different line-up for his backing band, Steve Craddock (Ocean Colour Scene) is still present and shows at one point how much of an amazing guitarist he is with what may be one of the greatest solos I have witnessed live. The new and young looking drummer also has a little solo which too is all good fun to watch and really shows the talent this backing band have.
Paul Weller also experiments with an acoustic session with some new people coming in to play guitar and some lead vocals being carried out by other people. There are also moments where he plays piano/keys instead of guitar, showing how good Paul is at more than just guitar. All show Paul Weller oozes cool and proves to be an intriguing character to watch. His voice is perfect with every note hit, the only vocal issues being temporary feedback once or twice which is down to his engineering team and not him. The way Paul plays, moves and grooves keeps your eyes peeled on him, wondering what he is going to do next. Musically, everything is also perfect, which even to my ridiculously critical producer’s ear all sounded amazing with no notes being out of place; the guitar solos being carried out by Paul Weller and Steve Craddock were astounding. The only bit I didn't like production-wise was the drum delay in the tripped out version of "Wild Wood" which actually sounded really messy and bad.
Overall this gig was excellent. It had something for everyone of all ages and Paul made sure he played music from his newest album all the way back to The Jam and Style Council days, ensuring happiness was had by all looking to hear the songs they loved. The downside for me was the sheer length of the concert which resulted in what can only be described as "packing out" the songs. What I mean by this is there were moments that made the whole show seem slow and tiring. If Paul Weller was to re-vamp his setlist, cutting out all the "fat" and leaving nothing but the top quality tracks (maybe halving the length of his total set) this would really make Paul Weller's live experience one of the best in the world. As it currently stands, it comes off only as good as there are as many boring moments as there are memorable ones.
Overall a great value for money gig that demonstrates what (where’s the Sir?) Paul Weller has added to the world of popular music over his massive 30 year career, and by the way he moved and played tonight I would think that Paul Weller will be here to grace us with his musical excellence for many a year more.
Last edited by Heron : November 24, 2008 at 10:37 PM.
Reason: Grammar and spelling correction
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Author rating
| | Overall Rating | | 7 | | Vocals / Lyrics | | 9 | | Musicianship | | 9 | | Production | | 9 | | Creativity | | 6 | | Lastability | | 6 | | Reviewers Tilt | | 7 | | 76% | | | |
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PAUL WELLER ANNOUNCES DATE AT 02 ARENA
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