The Verve
London Brixton Academy
The Verve: dissolved, then reformed changed, now reverted and returned to take all. So what do you say about the final night of the tour that eschewed such trivialities as support and had the populace gasping for air when it had passed?
Well, for the first 5 songs, I thought that the whole set was going to be ruined by the pathetic sound. It sounded like the mixing desk was being operated by a hallucinogen addled chimpanzee. Putting a festival sized PA inside the box they call Brixton Academy was never a sensible start, but it helps if you can hear something besides the vocals and drums. Fortunately, Nick McCabe’s swirling guitars eventually climbed on the back of Jones’ driving bass to emerge from the murk, and so lift off was achieved.
The Verve have always been about a total experience live, and that was what they went for here. At times it was quite breathtaking - 'Stormy Clouds' dragged your mind to the stage, and the evocative visual backdrops were forgotten in the searing beauty of Ashcroft's voice floating atop the swell of sound created by the band. Other times they seemed to stumble - perhaps the sound was to blame, but it all seemed to work best when either Ashcroft or McCabe was in control. Like in 'The Drugs Don't Work', or 'On Your Own' in which Ashcroft was nothing short of blinding in his ability to reach every person in the room - without seeming even slightly lofty. Other than that, 'Bittersweet Symphony' blew the lid off the place, somehow without seeming even slightly obvious. No mean feat I think.
The ripping finale of 'Come On' constantly threatened to turn into a maelstrom but stayed exactly on the right side of the line between clever and a racket. So, the Verve departed having pissed on the ashes of Oasis' funeral pyre but have yet to make that final step to actual greatness.
