CityLife

Barry Adamson @ The Lowry

04/04/08

YOU know you're getting old when the gigs you go to are seated throughout and you find yourself nodding to the music like a pensioner sitting by the park bandstand.

Then again Adamson is hovering around the 50 mark.

There's probably some law created by the intolerant youth of this society that should prevent him from looking so smooth in his dark suit and mustard shirt; cutting slick moves as he performs his quirky jazz/funk soundtrack to the gloriously seedy, underbelly world of his own creation.

But there's no stopping this jazz devil especially as this is his home town gig.

Adamson is Moss Side born and bred, as he notes at the top of the show surveying the audience smiling - 'so this is what friends reunited looks like.'

He's spent much of his half a decade honing his art, bringing him to the effortless pro we see tonight - when his mic cuts out mid song he briefly reverts to a silent ventriloquist act with his hand.

His musical career began when he joined Howard Devoto's Magazine and following their break up he became one of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds.

Moss Side Story

Breaking out of the constraints of the band he eventually released Moss Side Story in 1989, the first evidence of Adamson's love of filmic music.

It's a passion in full effect tonight - close your eyes and a soaring score conjures a smoking gun and a lone trumpet reverberates off the walls of a darkened, deserted street.

It's still an element that features in his new material with the film noir sound of The Beaten Side of Town.

Also showcased from his latest Back to the Cat album is the sleazy funk of Psycho Sexual and the verging on upbeat rock 'n' roll of Spend a Little Time.

There's plenty from his back catalogue too including a few tracks - the majestic Still I Rise and of course Jazz Devil - from his wonderful 1998 album As Above, So Below.

He's come far has 'our Barry,' and we're proud to have him back even if it is only for one night.

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