He’s certainly paid his dues, travelling across the US and much of the world to growing critical, if not commercial, acclaim. Now on his tenth album, Not Cool, he performs before a small but attentive crowd on a chilly evening.
Jet-lagged and requiring a shave he appears a tad unsure of where he is for a few moments, but soon settles into a set that is at times spellbinding. Dedicating his opening salvo to Lou Reed, he continues with the bluesy, ‘Don’t Lie’ and ‘Next To You’, a sublime Dylan-esque love song from his Ammunition album.
“You’re a rowdy crowd tonight,” he quips, in an attempt to break up the solemnity. Comments about the US Government’s spying activities don’t go down as well as expected, and he wisely retreats back to the songs. These include the Woody Guthrie-like ‘Looking Out’, a tribute to Joe Strummer written in Dublin; the sepia toned ‘Gallatin Pike Blues’, which could have been recorded 70 years ago; and the heartfelt ‘On My Way’, a love song inspired by his three-year-old daughter. After what seems like far too short a time on stage, he finishes with the hopeful ‘Don’t Walk Alone’, from his last album The Truth About Us. It rounds off a satisfying set from a master of the craft.