Concert Review – Nick Lowe & Ry Cooder

There’s no need to write a book to review this concert. The appeal of it was very simple really – great music, played supremely well by a pair of artists who are in complete command of both their music and its place in the milieu.

Even for casual admirers of both  Nick Lowe and Ry Cooder there was plenty enough to recommend this concert. While they are an odd couple in some ways – Lowe,  the spiky, English new waver and Cooder,  the laid back Californian roots bohemian – the fact is that their respective songs fit well together. It’s largely because of their differences rather than their similarities that the coupling works.

Nick Lowe is a consummate songwriter and you could picture him playing a solo acoustic show in an intimate café environment. But his songs benefit from the expansion bought to them by the small band. And lets face it if you are going to have a “sideman” guitar player contributing to your songs Ry Cooder would be high on the list of dream options.

And while Ry Cooder has more than enough material to play any number of completely unique shows the fact that he is sharing the stage and his time with another artist actually helps him bring his music and song selection into focus. It really does work as the best of both worlds.

Lowe contributes the more “singer-songwriterly” elements to the show. He introduces the show as a collection of “old songs, middle aged songs and some songs that are thinking of buying a house”. Among the highlights are Raining,  Raining (from 1982’s Nick The Knife), the gorgeous Little Village song Crying In My Sleep and Half A Boy, Half A Man – which Lowe reminds us was No 1 in Belgium for three weeks ion the 70’s.

Cooder, not surprisingly gets to perform the more musically genre bending songs. There’s any number of highlights including Down In Hollywood, a superb take on Woody Guthrie’s Vigilante Man and Crazy “Bout An Automobile (which he localises by with references to Toyota Corollas!).

The pair opened with a couple of “fool” songs – Lowe’s Fool Who Knows and Cooder’s Fool For a Cigarette – and the irony is not lost. They might be a couple of old fella’s just fooling around but for all the self-deprecation they are both still formidable artists.

Towards the end when they both play their most commercially friendly songs – Lowe’s Peace Love & Understanding (What’s So Funny About) and Cooder’s Little Sister, the job has well and truly been done.

A word about their band. – well actually about Joachim Cooder, who pretty much is the band! Ry’s son is just a great drummer, in fact more a percussionist – who brings a lot to these songs. His playing is subtle, diverse and masterful across a wide range of genres. It’s not often the drummer gets a plug but credit where credit is due.

He was joined on several songs by backing vocalists Juliette Commagere and Alex Lilly. It’s not often that backing vocalists provide that much more than well “backing”. These two however take lead vocals on a song in Spanish which is one of he shows great moments and when providing BV’s they do so creatively and with really interesting parts that really add to the songs.

Joachim also drummed for the opening act – who happened to be Juliette Commagere. Sound familiar? Apparently Commagere and Cooder (the younger) shared a relationship and a band Hello Stranger in Los Angeles. Last year she recorded a solo CD called Queens Die Proudly which would have been on sale last night but for the fact that she sold out the night before in Adelaide.

That’s not surprising. Initially I thought we were going to be ‘treated’ to yet another earnest girl behind a keyboard, singing well meaning but ultimately bland tunes in a soft voice that excused its mildness but being described as “ethereal”. It turned out that Commagere was so much more impressive than that. Her music is atmospheric, yes, but its also surprising and challenging. And her voice is strong and confronting. Some of Joachim Cooder’s best work for the entire night came during Commagere’s set.

Juliette Commagere is an artist worth investigating further – her performance especially after an eight hour drive from Adelaide (she apparently avoids flying where possible) was impressive.