Live Performance Review: John Cale, Friday 05.10.2012 18:00, H.M.V. Picturehouse, Edinburgh

I got a ticket for this performance as am a big fan of The Velvet Underground, and having seen Lou Reed twice, I was interested in seeing the other linchpin of the early velvet sound. Although I am a bigger fan of Lou Reed, I had heard some earlier John Cale solo recordings and liked what I heard.

Sadly the gig was very poor. The doors opened at 6, no support and John came on at 8; a long time to wait when nothing is happening. When he came on he appeared to be rushing between the pieces and disinterested in what was happening. The musicians he had with him on guitar, bass and drums appeared very average, John himself was on keys. I understand the new album to have received very poor reviews and there were a lot of songs from the new release and they did nothing to impress. All of the new songs also appear to have half finished lyrics, all at some point descending into dum-de-dum mode, to me a further sign of having lost the spark. Sadly he was also guilty of taking older songs, which are good pieces and performing them in the style of the new album, making then hard to listen to. I have only been to one concert where taking old songs and playing in a new style has worked well, and that was Iron and Wine in 2011. It worked because of the caliber of musicians performing and clearly they had taken time to practice to get to know how each other performs and how to perform the pieces. To compound matters further, John's keyboard was having technical problems and he would at limes literally give up even trying. I suspect the sound engineer was not good as the amount of times he guitarist was having to signal to increase or decrease levels was disruptive.

All in all, sadly, a very poor show.I would not return to see John again.. (Whereas both times I have seen Lou, I've greatly enjoyed and would gladly see again.) That is also two poor concerts in a row at the Picturehouse, I have one more booked in. I see how it goes, though if it is not good then I will put a block on returning there, as I have already with the Edinburgh Corn Exchange.  

Rating: 01/10.