Although I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, this was my first time seeing NICK LOWE live. He doesn’t tour much, as the last time he came to the U.S. was to support his 2004 live album Untouched Takeaway. Taking the stage with only a guitar in hand, he opened with “People Change”, an excellent new song from his similarly excellent new album At My Age. Over the next hour and a half after that, he covered a range of material ranging from “Heart of the City” (from his very first solo album Jesus of Cool) up through ‘80s material like “I Knew the Bride” and “All Men are Liars”, though the bulk of the set was devoted to his excellent last two studio albums, At My Age and 2001’s The Convincer. At age 58, Nick is recording some of the very best music of his career and At My Age is a continuation of where he has gone with 1994’s The Impossible Bird (represented on this night by “Shelley My Love” and “The Beast in Me”, which was also covered by his one-time father-in-law JOHNNY CASH), 1998’s Dig My Mood (“Man That I’ve Become”) and The Convincer (represented by lots of material, most notably “Indian Queens” and “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide”). The major difference is that At My Age brings back some of the sly humor and effortless wit evident in his early work without losing any of the warm and humanity of his previous 3 albums. A great example of this is “I Trained Her to Love Me”. The recorded version is a damning portrayal of an aging womanizer, but live Nick turns the narrator’s antics into pure comedy gold with his phrasing and facial gestures.
After an excellent main set that also included “Cruel to Be Kind” (his only U.S. Top 40 hit), “Without Love,” “Heart” and “What’s Shakin’ on the Hill”, Lowe came back out for two encores. The first one included a plaintive take on his oft-covered ”(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” while the show concluded with “7 Nights to Rock”, a gem from his overlooked 1986 album The Rose of England.
Opener RON SEXSMITH, currently on tour with Lowe in the U.S., was a nice bonus to the show as well and a perfect addition. I’d seen Sexsmith on several different occasions before, but each of those times, he was accompanied by a band. While I enjoyed those shows, he’s better as a solo act. Since I haven’t listened to any of his records except for his self-titled solo debut from 1995, I only recognized “Secret Heart”, but I enjoyed his set so much that I bought his most recent album Time Being after the show.
