- by Michelle Connolly
- Tuesday, May 23, 2006
- Next Gig
10/10/09
Sunday 21/05/06 Richard Ashcroft @ Brixton Academy, London
'Richard Ashcroft onstage 9.15’ reads the chalk outside the Brixton boozer next door to where one of the most ego-obsessed men in British rock will be sampling his devastatingly mediocre solo career (with a fair smattering of Verve tunes too we hope, cos that’s why anyone’s here tonight). But opt to reach gig levels of drinkage there at your peril as support guys Tiny Dancers are out to impress, and not just in the wardrobe stakes.
‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ is a set high point; things plummet however with the inclusion of ‘Music is Power’, an incredibly cringey song about how music can change the world. Okay for a gospel choir, not okay for a Richard Ashcroft gig; he’s doing himself no favours, it only serves to provide perfect fodder for critics keen to wax lyrical about the inferiority of the post-Verve material.
One acoustic ballad is, I kid you not, boring me to tears, so I exit to the loos to dry my eyes and overhear a girl on the phone: “he’s played some Verve, so it’s okay.” Good job then he plays some more: ‘Lucky Man’, as the last one before the break.
What better way to kill the ensuing hour than observe Ashcroft fans politely filing through the main entrance. It’s surprising that MORI’s pollsters haven’t set out their stall here cos a better representation of middle of the road you wouldn’t even find in Tesco’s on a Saturday afternoon.
Dressed in jeans, a bright yellow ‘Power to the People’ T-shirt, leather jacket and obligatory sleb shades, Ashcroft swaggers about in indie kingpin style before launching into a guitarless start. It’s the title track of current record ‘Keys To The World’. Minus the guitar (to be fair, his voice is his best instrument) he’s free to exercise his ‘I’m having it large and I’m gobbing it off’ attitude and in case we didn’t already get it, he does gob it off: “I’m really happy to be up here, on this stage.” Praying that’s the end of the egotistical commentary gets you nowhere as he offers us a needless glance into the Ashcroft conscience: “If you haven’t already bought Keys To The World, don’t. Instead give your tenner to charity.” Oh please. This isn’t Live 8 and your ‘holier than thou’ apostle Chris Martin isn’t here so spare us the fake ‘you give a shit’ spiel. We can’t resist a glance down to our Parlophone aftershow wristband and the glaring £ motif appears that much bigger.
“This is called ‘Sonnet’” he says in that faux-modest way that artists irritatingly do when they know it’s going to send the crowd nuts. And of course Ashcroft gets the biggest cheers these people have let off all weekend, especially at the promise of each Verve number. Bizarre thing is, the enthusiasm at each song’s announcement isn’t carried by the crowd past the opening lines. People are standing like dummies, save for one lass who’s throwing her every pound of flesh at every word of verse.
‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ is a set high point; things plummet however with the inclusion of ‘Music is Power’, an incredibly cringey song about how music can change the world. Okay for a gospel choir, not okay for a Richard Ashcroft gig; he’s doing himself no favours, it only serves to provide perfect fodder for critics keen to wax lyrical about the inferiority of the post-Verve material.
One acoustic ballad is, I kid you not, boring me to tears, so I exit to the loos to dry my eyes and overhear a girl on the phone: “he’s played some Verve, so it’s okay.” Good job then he plays some more: ‘Lucky Man’, as the last one before the break.
‘Break The Night With Colour’ is first up in the encore. The guy with the messianic complex then thinks he’s ‘treating’ us to an acoustic solo of ‘A Song For The Lovers’ but Jesus (no, not you, Richard) bring the band back!
The final song is 1997’s timeless ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’. The 10 minute extended version would be amazing if it weren’t for the worst moment of the whole night: said track is broken down for an appalling “thank you for letting me be me” oration. Cringe!
Sunday 21/05/06 Morning After Girls, Disco Ensemble @ Barfly, Liverpool... Next 
The Verve - 'Rather Be'
The Verve - 'Forth' (Parlophone) Released 25/08/08
Richard Ashcroft – ‘Why Not Nothing? /Sweet Brother Malcolm’ (Parlophone) Released 04/12/06
Richard Ashcroft - 'Music Is Power' (Parlophone) Released 17/04/06
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