Eels
Paradiso, Amsterdam
26/06/03
I’ll start off honestly. The Eels haven’t been a major part of my life over the past few years. I’d written them off subconsciously, and though I have new album Shootenanny sitting here, I didn’t give it much time originally. That was until yesterday, the day of the concert, when I decided I would give it one last try as I’d be seeing them live. Thankfully it started to click just a little bit and offer some hope for the coming gig. That tiny inkling of hope wasn’t enough to prepare me for the rock show to come though.
Opening proceedings first was MC Honky. Is he real? Is it possible he’s an actor? Well, yes, I believe him to be real. The only thing that’s completely certain though is the majority of the audience gets very confused when he walks out onstage in his old fashioned suit, hat and pipe to perform a DJ set featuring songs from recent album I Am the Messiah.
It was more surreal than interesting, but it wasn’t bad either. The MC Honky project is just part of the complete Eels parcel right now, and this is just something new for the fans to get their head around.
Eventually we get to the main act though, but something was still amiss. The band are onstage in their red suits and kicking into the intro stomp of ‘All in a Days Work’, but there is a random roadie standing in the middle of the stage where E should be. Suddenly, he pulls up a powerful spotlight and shines it to the back of the venue. Then the harmonica kicks in and E is climbing up on the bar alongside the wall, walking towards the stage. Now that’s how to enter a gig.
The four-piece then set about producing one of the hardest hitting concerts I’ve witnessed all year as they blasted out short, sharp bursts of tight, blues rock influenced tunes. It was yet another surprise, but a pleasant one. There was hardly a pause for breath as they threw out song after song.
In fact there was no respite from the pace of the show until the 7th or 8th song, but no sooner was ‘Daisies of the Galaxy’ out the way before they were flying at full speed again. ‘Souljacker Part I’ immediately got the packed crowd riled up even more, before the mighty guitar riff of ‘Dog Faced Boy’, with the spotlight on guitarist Shon Sullivan, tore everyone to shreds. Even the old fan favourite of ‘Novocaine for the Soul’ was brought back to life with an upbeat rock façade.
Finally, the last song of the set, ‘Love of the Loveless’ brought the speed and volume down a notch in order to make way for some added emotion and preaching. The following encore also keeping to this style of a more gentle approach, starting with a solo piano version of ‘Rock Hard Times’, and gradually bringing the band back one by one for renditions of ‘It’s a Motherfucker’, ‘Grace Kelly Blues’, and ‘P.S. You Rock My World’.
Credit to the band, as even with three main encores played, they still hadn’t managed to shake any of the appreciative audience. It was clearly an ambition though, because with the house lights up and a record playing, people were being encouraged to leave. I would have, if I hadn’t known better, but after a period of five minutes or more, once half the room had cleared, the band charged back out to play a fast and furious rendition of ‘Fingertips Part III’ with the lights on.
Then they moved onto a version of ‘La Grange’ by ZZ Top. The band was clearly having immense fun onstage, pulling rock star moves at all angles and beaming wide smiles. With the added space in the audience from the departed, the remaining fans went wild and mass dancing broke out. It may have been the last surprise of the evening, but it was certainly the best, and an even better way to end the night.
So yes, a lesson was learned at this concert. The Eels currently have a rock show that is refined yet raw. It has enough class to please the long term fans, but also with plenty of twists and turns to win over some new ones too. Definitely not a tour to be missed.
Steven McCarron
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