Image by: Matt Young
Paul Weller played a string of shows this past week that included stops at Kew Gardens in Surrey, Delapre Park, Thetfort Forest, Westonbirt Arboretum and in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Weller played to crowds of nearly 10,000 at each stop in beautiful outdoor settings. The set list contained a few surprises including the return of Paul's cover of Rose Royce's "Wishing On A Star" from his Studio 150 album, and "Going Places" from Illumination. Here's a rundown of pics, video and set lists from our great contributors.
Paul Weller
Kew The Music, Kew Gardens, Surry, UK
July 11, 2013
Image By: Ian Bines
Image By: Leah Weller
Paul Weller
Thetford Forest, Nr Brandon, Suffolk, UK
July 12, 2013
Paul Weller
Delapre Park, Northampton, UK
July 19, 2013
Images By: Carl Scott
Review By: Jeremy Casey
A warm summer’s evening, a beautiful setting at Delapre Abbey, a sell-out 6.500 crowd and Paul Weller, one of British music’s greatest singer-songwriters, on stage belting out classic tune after classic tune. I doubt Northampton has ever been quite so Alive.
Yep, the opening night of the three-day Alive@Delapre music festival on Friday was a triumph.
It was a fantastic occasion, with Weller on top form and the crowd revelling in the opportunity to see a genuine legend of the music world strutting his brilliant stuff, right here in Northampton.
As far as I know, Weller has only played in town once before, and that was a hastily-arranged Phoenix Festival warm-up at the Roadmender way back in 1995.
Much to my frustration I was out of the country at the time as I was on holiday, so there was no way I was missing the chance again to seeing the former Jam and Style Council front man in my home town this time around.
You may have gathered from what I have already written that I am a big Weller fan.
His music has been a major part of my life since I was a 10-year-old kid at St Mary’s Middle School in Northampton. At that time, in 1979, The Jam were on their way to becoming the biggest band in the country. I was hooked from a young age, and have been a fan ever since, through the Style Council and then on to his solo career, which alone has now stretched to 21 years.
All three stages of his 37-year musical career were represented at Delapre, and it was a fantastic performance. Weller may be 55, and his hair may now be silver, but he is in better shape than he has been for many a year and can still kick it on stage.
He began with Sunflower from his Wildwood album, and in a blistering start followed up with Wake Up The Nation, From The Floorboards Up and Fast Car/Slow Traffic.
The one Style Council song to get an airing, the brilliant My Ever Changing Moods, soon followed before Weller got stuck into songs from his most recent album, last year’s number one Sonik Kicks, including the excellent That Dangerous Age, which was introduced by Northampton’s own Andy Crofts, who was as good as ever on keyboards and clearly relished this rare Weller performance on ‘home soil’.
Crofts’ fellow member of Northampton band The Moons and town man, Ben Gordelier, was also a star on percussion, and the band overall were a class act, with Steve Cradock on guitar, Andy Lewis on bass and Steve Pilgrim on drums.
Weller was on good form, and acknowledged his was the first gig to be staged at Delapre Abbey, before joking that ‘there’ll be covering it on concrete now’... But with the weather as it has been, there is no need for concrete and the venue is a good one, with excellent viewing and good sound.
The gig continued with more songs from Weller’s solo catalogue – including the wistful and under-rated Above the Clouds from his debut – but there was no doubt many of the sell-out crowd had come to hear classic Jam songs and Weller’s big hits.
Their patience was rewarded when the gig was wrapped up with That’s Entertainment, Start and The Changing Man, which were split by a storming Whirlpool’s End – a personal favourite!
After a huge ovation, the band returned for the encore, and although Weller slowed things down as he often does with his cover of Rose Royce’s Wishing On A Star and the beautiful Be Happy Children from Sonik Kicks, he still managed to slip in Out Of The Sinking, merged with Wildwood, before finishing on the highest of highs in the shape of perhaps his best-known song, Town Called Malice.
The crowd lapped that up, as they had the entire gig, and left Delapre happy, knowing they had seen a master at work.
Chatting afterwards, some who had been at the gig felt Weller should have played more of his old stuff, more Jam songs, more Style Council songs, but this is a battle Weller can’t really win.
Because this wasn’t a Jam gig, it wasn’t a Style Council gig, it was a Paul Weller gig, and he is a performer still at the top if his game, still writing and recording number one albums. He wants those songs to be heard, he wants to perform them, that’s his job. And with a catalogue of more than 500 songs to choose from, getting that down to a set-list of 24 as he did at Delapre can’t be an easy task.
Anyway, all in all, this was a fantastic gig, clocking in at an hour and 40 minutes, and a great start to the Alive@Delapre festival.
And here’s hoping Weller enjoyed it enough to make a return to Northampton a little bit sooner than than the 18 years it took him this time!
Set-list: Sunflower, Wake Up The Nation, From The Floorboards Up, Fast Car/Slow Traffic, Sea Spray, My Ever Changing Moods, Kling-I-Klang, The Attic, Going Places, Friday Street, Porcelain Gods, That Dangerous Age, Above The Clouds, Dragonfly, 7&3 Is The Striker’s Name, Peacock Suit, That’s Entertainment, Start!, Whirpool’s End, The Changingman.
Encore: Wishing On A Star, Out Of The Sinking/Wildwood, Be Happy Children, Town Called Malice
Paul Weller
Westonbirt Arboretum, Nr Tetbury, Glos, UK
July 20, 2013
Set List Courtesy Of Darren
Sunflower
Wake Up The Nation
From The Floorboards Up
Fast Car Slow Traffic
Sea Spray
My Ever Changing Moods
Kling I Klang
The Attic
Going Places
Friday Street
Porcelain Gods
That Dangerous Age
Above The Clouds
Dragonfly
7&3 Is The Strikers Name
Peacock Suit
That's Entertainment
STaRt!
Whirlpool's End
The Changingman
Wishing On A Star
Wild Wood
Be Happy Children
Mullet hairstyles were on display in their hundreds on Saturday night as Modfather Paul Weller brought a mixture of old and new material to Westonbirt Arboretum.
Arriving early on stage, the former Jam and Style Council singer had a 7,000-strong sell out crowd in the palm of his hand as the second weekend of Forestry Commission concerts this year was blessed with some of the finest weather gigs there have ever seen.
Dressed head to toe in his signatory black and ever-greying sideburns, Weller, with a back catalogue big enough for an entire evening of hits, chose to kick things off with a melancholic version of Heavy Soul.
Followed up by one too many of his lesser-known songs, many of which were from his solo albums of recent years, he could have been in danger of losing the largely tipsy crowd if it weren’t for the fact we all knew what was coming.
It started with Peacock Suit and as soon as that had lifted a now buzzing audience, Weller, alongside Ocean Colour Scene guitarist Steve Cradock, Andy Lewis, Andy Crofts, Steve Pilgrim and Ben Gordelier, hit his stride and went all out with hit after hit including the foot-tapping That’s Entertainment and a sublime version of The Changingman.
Despite a lack of interaction with the crowd, indeed Weller said little more than two sentences between tracks, his performance spoke for itself.
Gravelly at times, smooth at others, the mod rocker never missed a note and his guitar skills are without doubt as good as his iconic hairdo.
Sadly missing from the set list this time was Weller’s tear jerker You Do Something To Me With but an encore of Wishing on a Star and Wild Wood and a finale of the Jam hit Town Called Malice, no-one was left disappointed.
Paul Weller
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
July 21, 2013
Image by: Victoria Boyce
Image By: Tommy McCready
From: Herald Scotland
By: Alan Morrison
Weller came racing out of the traps, firing off Sunflower, Wake Up The Nation, From The Floorboards Up and Fast Car/Slow Traffic back to back, and going on to fit the first eight songs of his set into a breathless half hour. These days Weller in live mode seems to be mainlining the new-found urgency of his most recent albums, and his band, which still includes guitarist Steve Cradock of Ocean Colour Scene, would have done well to keep up with a man half his age.
Although the set played safe by placing the best-known tracks from those early solo albums in key positions – Sunflower from Wild Wood as opener, The Changing Man from Stanley Road as main set closer, Peacock Suit and Wild Wood itself late on – the pace noticeably slackened when Weller assumed his Modfather guise.
The highlight sparks came from material from his last two records (Kling I Klang from Sonic Kicks, the title track from Wake Up The Nation) and from his earliest work (the double espresso jolt of Jam songs, That’s Entertainment and Start!, placed two-thirds of the way through the gig).
Image By: Iain Stewart
Image By: Drew from All Mod Icon
Image By: Caitlin Milton
Image By: The Acid House
Image By: Dionne Stubbs-Marrs
"JUST MET PAUL FUCKING WELLER AND IM ABOUT TO WEE MY PANTS"
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