Eels

Eels

Twenty four or twenty five songs. Opening with the instrumental Where I'm At and When You Wish Upon A Star. Closing (or almost closing) with I Can't Help Falling In Love With You. The covers were played straight, not tongue in cheek, not messed with. The modern sport approach is two-fold. Plan. Execution. There was a set, well paced, well planned, well designed; and there were shovel loads of execution. Wonderful, beautiful execution.

There's a sparse set. Or an apparently sparse set. There's five musicians. Mark Oliver Everett plays guitar and piano. The percussionist plays an array of instruments (“and over here, in the yard sale, Knuckles” went his introduction), vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, as well as a drum kit attacked with both stick and brush. There's stand up bass. There's trumpet and guitar (seated) and guitar and pedal steel (also seated).

Everett sits at the piano for The Morning, downbeat, but lyrically optimistic, then plays guitar for Parallels. That's a favourite from the new The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett album. The songwriting takes inspiration from those parts of life that, apparently, make you stronger. “This one's a bit of a bummer...”, “this one's a really happy song...only joking...it's even bummier...”

To begin with, there are vertical strips of white lights hung against a black cloth, a wheel chandelier with bare bulbs hung at different heights. For the first third of the set, only two of these flick on for a couple of seconds at a time, seemingly at random. Four mini-cannon-looking things project simple, white, geometric patterns of light onto the walls and the ceiling. The band all wear shirts, suits and ties.

Then, after Lockdown Hurricane, the drum kit comes into play, and they absolutely fly through a syncopated A Daisy Through Concrete. The backdrop lights start to dance, the chandelier fires up, and the light projectors burst into colour. They stay upbeat through Grace Kelly Blues, Fresh Feeling, I Like Birds, (which, if not played exactly played for laughs, impliedly begs for some audience participation) and My Beloved Monster.

It's like an evening of highlights. Amazing. Next time they're over here, well, if you have to mug a granny for the price of a ticket, she was only going to spend it on bingo and the Daily Mail in any case.

Final third. The heartbreakingly emotional Gentlemen's Choice. Where I'm Going, I Like The Way This Is Going.

Rather than do the walk off, aw, shucks, wow, thanks guys, really? more? thing, the band stick around and Everett trots down the steps and hugs anyone who wants a hug.

Covers: I Can't Help Falling In Love With You, Jennifer Eccles, Turn On Your Radio (a fantastic version).

Dazzling. Absolutely dazzling.