Lloyd Cole at City Varieties

LLOYD COLE – CITY VARIETIES reviewed by swooning fan, Chris Baillie …

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was that I managed to blag tickets to see Lloyd Cole. I was such a fan in the eighties; I even fainted at the last gig I went to at the Warehouse in 85 (This is true, and I had to carry her out of The Warehouse, and make sure she didn’t chuck up on my shoes Ed.) I was ill, though I believe he did brush past me …

Rattlesnakes is one of my all-time favourite albums – I have it on vinyl, CD and on tape (yes, C90 no less). It has the best song lyric of all time: ‘Why must you tell me all your secrets when it’s hard enough to love you knowing nothing’ from Four Flights Up. That fact is not open for discussion. I even had a short fling with someone primarily because he looked like Lloyd … it didn’t last – he was more of an REM fan. Anyway, I also loved Easy Pieces, and Mainstream, but I hadn’t bought anything else by him until I knew I was going to this gig and went out and bought Standards ( mainly because my brother pointed out that he wouldn’t be just playing stuff from Rattlesnakes! (Again, true. Put a bit of effort in for the free ticket! Ed).

The album was apparently co-funded by fans – am still wondering why I wasn’t called …

I played the new album for a few days in the car and must say, I did like it. Not as lively as Rattlesnakes, but some really nice tunes on there in the distinctive Lloyd style. So I was really looking forward to seeing him.

I wasn’t disappointed. Just Lloyd and a guitar on the stage at the City Varieties and I was transported back to the Eighties (not that I am ever far away, to be fair). His voice was just the same and he came across as shy and amusing – totally endearing. He did a mix of old and new interspersed with amusing, crowd pleasing anecdotes. Standards was mentioned many many times – ‘if you like these songs but don’t recognise them, they are probably from the new album …’

It’s a strange place to have a gig, mind. When I saw Lloyd Cole and the Commotions in the eighties it was a case of standing up the whole time (bit of dancing), watching the support act (The Blow Monkeys), waiting for the main act (Lloyd), 2 encores, then home. This was fully seated, had an interval, started at 7.30, ended before 10 and they served ice cream half way through! However, I am now much older and sitting was a definite bonus. I had a drink, which wasn’t spilled due to the jostling; I could have had a chocolatey snack, had I so wished, and I was home before 10.30.

My favourites of the night were from the old albums though: Perfect Skin, Blue, Cut Me Down, Are You Ready to be Heartbroken, Brand New Friend, to name but a few, and finishing with Forest Fire. I was beyond happy! The new songs were really good, don’t get me wrong, and it is firmly in my CD player for the next few weeks, but the old ones were what we really wanted. Lloyd said Standards was ‘even better than Rattesnakes, yes?’ I can’t agree with that (and I think he knew himself that he would be hard pushed to better it) but I would recommend that you go see him if you get the chance.

An old friend of mine asked me a Lloyd related question which I can now answer: yes Keith, I still would!