Weekly > Reviews
Marseille - Josephs Well
I have to be honest , I approached this gig with a fair amount of apprehension – I mean, come on.. Neil Buchanan? From Art Attack? And Finders Keepers? In an 80’s hair metal band? Have a day off! I think most people born after 1980 (and not massive Whitesnake fans) can appreciate that it is pretty hard to believe. And, like myself, would find it even harder to believe that Marseille enjoyed a moderate degree of success in the late 70s and early 80s, and was actually putting tea on’t table for Mr Buchanan well before he was asking the nation to “try it yourself”.
Instantly you see my first hurdle starting to appear- Trying to take this gig as a serious renaissance, rather than a Spinal Tap-esque parody featuring a former kids TV presenter. I struggled. Well, for the first few songs, anyway. As soon as I became accustomed to the fact that the red sweater, welcoming smile and de-branded glue stick had been replaced with a sleeveless black t-shirt, a clichéd rock-n-roll snarl and a Les Paul Black Beauty (held vertically, of course) the whole spectacle became far easier to digest.
The whole ordeal was surprisingly pleasant – the expected 15-or-so innuendo-laden songs including such hits as ”(Do It) The French Way”, “Kiss Like Rock ‘n Roll” and “Bring on the Dancing Girls”. And even after 20 or-so years break, they were as tight as an otter’s pocket.
There was also the expected lack of differentiation between songs – but this is not a bad thing. Marseille have their sound. Like AC/DC had theirs. And Whitesnake had theirs. That’s just the way Rock ‘n roll worked in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Everything sounded the same. It’s what people loved. Like denim jackets. And studded leather.
However my appreciation of the whole event was somewhat hampered by two key issues – Firstly, I missed the boat when hair-metal was in its prime the first time around, so I had nothing to draw association to. And secondly – and probably the biggest issue for me – my love for the afore mentioned Spinal Tap.
- Marseille
- Josephs Well (12th September 2009)
- Category: Live
- Reviewed by: Danny Payne
- Published on: 25 Sep 2009
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
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Add to favouritesNo matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape the feeling that for just over an hour I was living through another parody. The flamboyant solos where the Les Paul became a phallic extension for 25 seconds, the constant snarling and pouting at the crowd, the tandem-guitar-neck-cross-thing that everyone from Izzy & Duff from GNR to Kiss used to do, it all made the whole experience literally unreal.
I couldn’t believe that this was anything more than a tribute to a great era for music. And that’s nothing against the otters-pocket like performance of messrs Buchanan and chums, as the evening proved to be a showcase of proper rock n roll. It’s just the way things go these days- digging up old artists for a second (or third, or fourth..) crack at it. It’s trendy.
All the deep and meaningful aside, it was pretty special. The crowd were extremely welcoming, a large proportion of which took to the stage to help out with the backing vocals for ”(Do it) The French Way”. This gig offered so much – Good old-fashioned power chords, screaming high vocals, loads of leather, a drum-riser so high that the drummer was nearly burning his noodle on the backlight cans, and all washed down with a former kids TV presenter churning out awesome guitar solos. What more could an 80s child want?
Rock n Roll!
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