London (England) - Islington Assembly Hall, September 11, 2013 Options

[dangum]

A whole bunch of videos are available for this show:

I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ2O6qGvJf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lay1ZKCS98E (different filmer)

Overcome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDF5hNl77xI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQoAAZwI2KY (different filmer)

Lightning Crashes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXfzNKbqiGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XYCIYw61tU (different filmer)

Heaven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzbt4RnUow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WAGnXXpxZ0 (different filmer)

Seven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9STRn984O8

The One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtQ55XmC6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLVMqm60m_Q

I Alone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqV9ZGmXUdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gubcfH386d4 (different filmer)

The Great Beyond
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWbwF9U_kM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrwazz-WIg (different filmer)

Pillar of Davidson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOb0dnKBGm8

The Dolphin's Cry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWmOQUQLyUk

All Over You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th0kj9h7B6E

Selling the Drama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6apXvejUxDM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F78yz3gueOM (different filmer)

Run to the Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSN6s7fZcBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJgjr7qnDE (different filmer)

Angels on a Razor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_sZbrfi45Q

Pain Lies on the Riverside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkSuPCGQtw

[SecretInsomnia]

Anyone noticed that Ed doesn't hit the high ''Gates of looooooove' like he's always done until now lately? Just thought that was remarkable in the last few recordings I saw on youtube.

Thanks for getting the links together, Dan.

[dangum]

He may not be a household name, but Ed Kowalczyk is something of a God in RednBlack towers.

The former frontman of post-grunge alternative rockers Live penned some of the most powerful and beautiful songs of the latter half of the nineties and provided the soundtrack of my early adult life. It is music with deep personal resonance for me having seen me through times both beautiful and tragic. Live last came to these shores touring their seventh and final album in 2006 and so the rare opportunity to see the frontman playing solo was one I couldn’t miss.

Kowalczyk released his second solo album “The Flood And The Mercy” this week (we will carry a separate review of that shortly) and has been out on tour around Europe promoting his latest work. In the current show, titled “I Alone Acoustic” – he actually has a single companion on stage, bassist Chris Heerlein.

Tonight’s support came from Leslie Mendelson – an American singer/songwriter with piano and acoustic guitar, backed by guitarist Steve McEwan. Mendelson’s has a superb voice, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell and fills the venue with its superb acoustics in quite a captivating way.

Kowalczyk and Heerlein take to the stage and immediately have the crowd in the palm of their hand with a rendition of Live classic All Over You. Kowalczyk barely has to sing as the audience who have not seen Ed or Live on these shores for some seven years enthusiastically do most of his work for him..

New songs are well received by the audience and whilst still being more reminiscent of late era Live than the best of their canon they show something of a return to songwriting form from Kowalczyk after the bitterly disappointing final Live album Songs From Black Mountain and the inoffensive, yet flat solo debut Alive.

It’s the classic Live material that makes the night special though. The signature bend of Selling The Drama is greeted with a cheer more at home in a football stadium. Pillar of Davidson manages as ever to be both haunting and uplifiting – and I Alone again has the crowd delivering the vocal lines so that Kowalczyk doesn’t have to.

The encore is poignant. Today is September 11th and Live’s Overcome was played wall to wall on US radio stations in the aftermath of the tragedy after a film maker put together a video setting images from that terrible day against the song. Kowalczyk pays tribute to those who lost their lives that day and reflects on their memory before performing the song which cannot fail to have moved everyone present. Run To The Water follows, followed by a track from the new album called The One.. and the show is predictably closed with the anthemic Lightning Crashes – sung out by the audience with goosebumps aplenty.

An evening to be savoured, deeply loved music finally getting an airing after far too many years.

Setlist

All Over You
The Distance
The Great Beyond
? (Sorry I didn’t catch the title at the time – but it was a song from the new album)
The Dolphins Cry
Angels On A Razor
Selling The Drama
Seven
Pain Lies On The Riverside
? (A Bruce Springsteen cover but Ed didn’t say the name and I didn’t recognise it)
Pillar Of Davidson
Heaven
I Alone

Encores
Overcome
Run To The Water
The One
Lightning Crashes

http://www.rednblack.net/2013/09/12/ed-kow...ly-hall-london/