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Review: Graham Coxon at HMV Forum [LIVE]

HMV Forum, London // April 25, 2012

by steffers, May 7th, 2012 and has been Read 1159 times.
Last Edited by: Chris MUG5 Maguire May 7th, 2012.

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As the rain rushed everyone inside an overly moist HMV Forum, a completely un-bothered Graham Coxon strapped his telecaster over the shoulder of one of his (thousands of) striped t-shirts and checked that all of the volumes of his equipment were alright. The date tonight was to showcase his brand new album "A+E" but this crowd was certainly following him way before Coxon was even thinking about going solo.



"Advice" (coincidentally "A+E"'s opening track) cracked the expectant silence with a slamming dose of distortion and I'm glad he didn't bring his glasses cause they would have gotten broken in two. The next twenty minutes of the set could have perfectly elapsed in 2006, Coxon's guitar balanced on top of his head and the amplifiers having to dodge the swordy movements of the mast while four songs in a row from "Love Travels At Illegal Speeds" grabbed the attention of every skeptic.

Now it was the time of truth. Another four-track-in-a-row-from-the-same-album chunk but this time all new songs (some better received than others), and in this case, you had to paste them together because the new acquired sounds would have been lost, scattered between Coxon's garage-y era.

Coxon's pint of beer (in a plastic cap) was switched for a can of coke and eventually a bottle of water as the night went on, and his most eloquent words were "Hey, anyone from Kentish Town?". A few replied but most of us just looked confused/amused.



"This is the last song..." (boooo...) "Yes, but then you cheer, and then I come out for a couple more... Don't you know how that works?" explained Graham awkwardly before taking a break for a fairly long encore.

Another gem from the new stash was "What'll It Take" a nod to every bipolar Blur lyric combined with the most bittersweet depressive/self indulgent elements of the last couple of years of Graham Coxon's solo work. Well, also with a bit of synthesizer thrown it, but... we forgive you Graham.

“Freakin' Out” was performed with no joy, only for the worthless fans that were waiting for it the whole set (several of them just left after it). We stayed for the end with the involutional "Tripping Over" and as all the guitars were left ringing on stage for a few seconds I couldn't help but wonder what would Damon think of the new tracks...?

Review by Carolina Faruolo
Photos by Stephanie Webb taken @ Nottingham Rescue Rooms