Paul Carrack - Grand Opera House, York - 2006
York Grand Opera House is a bigger version of the City Varieties in Leeds; beautiful Victorian architecture at its most stunning. The auditorium was already steaming with dry ice when we took our seats, a few minutes before Paul Carrack came onstage. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the audience under 40, but there's nothing wrong with that. We Baby Boomers need our music too.
Initially Paul Carrack sang alone, just voice and keyboard, and was eventually joined by other band members. That wonderful white soul voice sang some of my favourite of his songs, including Satisfy my Soul, Eyes of Blue and It Aint Over. He also played what could be the best version I've heard of the Crowded House song Don't Dream It's Over , and told us he'd played Hammond organ on the Paul Young version that was a big hit in the 80s (he's not lying - I checked. He did backing vocals as well). There was a sweet picture of him (Paul Carrack that is) as a boy wearing a Sheffield Wednesday shirt projected on to the back of the stage. This looks like the cover of the new Greatest Hits compilation which this tour is promoting.
There was a break for ice creams and when the band returned it was to play some of the greatest hits, including the Mike & the Mechanics stuff. This somehow disappointed in comparison with the earlier set. Part of the problem for me was that the picture projected onto the back of the stage was replaced by videos of the songs. I found myself watching the videos and forgetting the real musicians onstage. Surely a gimmick like this is the preserve of lesser talents, like the no-brainers on TOTP who surround themselves with dancers to take our minds off how bad the music is? I found the videos incredibly irritating and distracting, as were the flashy coloured lights, Maybe I've just been used to smaller scale gigs for too long.
Of course, one of the Greatest Hits was Tempted. This, being something of my area of expertise, I was keen to hear. The music was fine - textbook Tempted - but again I was distracted by the video. It started out as the Squeeze video we all know and love, but then it became apparent that all the Glenn/Chris bits had been replaced by shots of Paul playing keyboards, interspersed with odd shots of Jon Bentley and some rather literal footage of a girl with apple and snake. As a cynical old Squeeze cronie I was outraged!
Anyway, everyone around me went wild by encore time, although it was difficult for me to whip up enthusiasm in the same way. Paul Carrack is the epitome of mellow and laid back for me, so I find it hard to be too rock and roll where he's concerned. Although I enjoyed the music I must say I would have enjoyed it more in an intimate setting without the gadgets.
9 November 2006
