MARC ALMOND + ALEX LIPINSKI – BRIGHTON DOME 11.9.24
Southport born Marc Almond of Soft Cell fame, now resides in Portugal and this evening reminded us at Brighton Dome of his 45 years in showbusiness. During which time he has always possessed a gift for introducing a whole host of cover songs to new audiences – some lesser known, others a little forgotten by time.
This is something he continues with the release of his latest album ‘I’m Not Anyone’ which dropped on 12th July. This draws from different genres, from psychedelic and prog rock to folk, gospel and soul, where Marc unveiled his 11 choice cuts of his take on tunes that included ‘I’m The Light’ (originally by Blue Cheer), ‘Gone With The Wind (Is My Love)’ (Rita & The Tiaras/Gloria Jones), ‘Elusive Butterfly’ (Bob Lind), ‘I’m Not Anyone’ (Paul Anka / Sammy Davis Jr.), and ‘Trouble Of The World’ (Mahalia Jackson). All the songs have an emotional connection to Marc and say something about his life. Fans were rewarded all of these five songs as well as 23 other tunes, which are more or less true to the originals, across an almost two hour set, which ran from 8:15pm to 10:10pm. This being date three of a nine venue jaunt around the UK. Having already successfully entertained audiences in Leeds and London, it was now our turn.
During Marc’s 45 year music career there has been some breathtaking diversity that’s taken in chart topping pop, cutting-edge electronica, torch songs, orchestral ballads, French chansons, historical song-cycles, jazz, flamenco, Russian folk and much more and some of these styles were reflected tonight. Marc is accompanied on stage by five accomplished musicians and a trio of backing singers. These being birthday boy Neal X (of Sigue Sigue Sputnik fame) on electric guitar, backing vocals, leg slapping, finger clicks, Tom Weller on drums, Hugh Wilkinson on tom toms, congas, xylophone, piano, percussion, Martin Watkins on piano, mellotron, keyboards, Phil ‘Polecat’ Bloomberg on double-bass, bass guitar, Bryan Chambers on backing vocals, Ruth White on backing vocals and Florence Rawlings on backing vocals. Marc is also joined by support act
Alex Lipinski on guitar for a trio of tunes. Some of these musicians were present during our last encounter two years ago for Marc Almond’s Bexhill concert – Review HERE.
The lighting this evening is standard with no flashing or lazers, it simply isn’t that kind of gig. The stage curtain to the rear remains in place and the lighting reflects on that. The sound quality as you would expect from this famous venue is crisp and clear and every single word can be heard and so we can follow each of the musical stories as they unfold. The musicians and backing singers take to the stage first, after which Marc immediately arrives to an enthusiastic welcome from the packed audience. He takes his spot centre front of the stage and we can’t fail to miss him in his sparkly showbiz jacket and trademark tinted glasses. They get straight down to business with the aforementioned Blue Cheer cover ‘I’m The Light’, which is swiftly followed by the disco beat of ‘Gone With The Wind (Is My Love)’ (Rita Graham cover). After this, Marc addresses the faithful for the first time this evening “thank you very much it’s nice to be here!”. He already seems very relaxed and at home and confides in us that he has twisted his ankle and that he has forgotten his asthma inhaler. Whether this is a joke or just showbusiness, I’m not totally sure, but there is a comfy stool behind him which he can (and does) perch upon at times during his set. His vocals, as you would expect, were great and he explains that this evening is a covers evening from his 45 years.
Marc then recounts his childhood and his fondness for watching Val Doonican on tv with his array of jumpers and that Val covered the boppy next song, ‘Elusive Butterfly’, which was a Bob Lind cover. After this, Marc informed us that he first heard the next selection, the powerful gospel lament ‘Trouble Of The World’ (Mahalia Jackson cover) when he saw the 1959 film ‘Imitation Of Life’ which dealt with issues of race, class and gender. For this track Marc duet’s with Bryan Chambers, as he does on his latest album, and with Marc not really being religious he has turned the song into a soulful hymn for peace and resolution. Marc’s following selection, ‘A Woman’s Story’, was penned by Phil Spector, April Stevens, and Nino Tempo and was a hit for Cher back in 1974. This slowie went down rather well with the audience. Marc then explained about his take on genders and then Eatha Kitt’s voice, which led nicely into her tune ‘The Heel’, a composition Marc informs us he hasn’t done since the days with With The Willing Sinners, which is met by approval by the fans. This tune jogs along at the pace of a horse’s canter.
It was now time for Marc to recount his memories of seeing Parisian Charles Aznavour performing live not long before he passed away at the age of 94. Clearly a fan, Marc and his band gave us a quartet of Aznavour songs, these being ‘The Boss Is Dead’,
‘Yesterday When I Was Young’, ‘What Makes A Man’ and ‘I Have Lived’. For ‘The Boss Is Dead’ Neal X ditched his guitar and slapped his legs as an accompaniment. For both ‘Yesterday When I Was Young’ and ‘What Makes A Man’ it was simply Marc and an accompanying piano and the full band returned for ‘I Have Lived’.
Marc then made light of his switch from Charles Aznavour to Pink Floyd’s co-founder Syd Barrett with the arrival of ‘Terrapin’, Where Neal X clicks his fingers to the beat and Hugh Wilkinson makes good use of the xylophone. On a side note, Pink Floyd fans will be interested to learn about David Gilmour’s new announcement, which is found HERE.
Next up was a trio of tunes that segued into each other, these being Kalmár Pál’s ‘Gloomy Sunday’, which is also known as the ‘Hungarian Suicide Song’, Bobby Darin’s ‘Dream Lover’ and Elvis Presley’s ‘One Night Of Sin’. ‘Gloomy Sunday’ kicked off with Marc’s vocals, Neal’s guitar and Phil’s double bass. During this tune, things took a totally unexpected turn and there was clearly a growing situation near the front left (house right) by the stage. There was an increasing number of both male and female loudly shouting abuse being hurled. Marc and his chums meanwhile carried on with their segue and went into ‘Dream Lover’. The incident was clearly escalating and becoming most unpleasant and several more people were becoming involved and it spilled over into an all out fight! It’s here I’m beginning to wonder how Marc is going to call this one, and whether they should suddenly stop and call out the offenders and thus totally draw attention to it, or simply carry on and let the security staff do their jobs. It’s obvious by now that those near the fighting are getting a little tense to say the least, but then from the opposite side of the venue, the crowd actually called it, and they started clapping and singing along to ‘Dream Lover’ and this spread throughout the venue and actually drowned out the unwanted noise. Folk had paid their money to enjoy Marc’s show and that’s exactly what they were going to do! Marc made no reference to the incident, which was probably the right call. I suspect that he’s seen everything in his 45 years in showbusiness and knew how to handle the situation. As a footnote to this, at the end of the concert, the crowd were unable to leave by the exit located nearest to the Royal Pavilion, and it was cordoned off, as several police were on scene with those involved. You certainly don’t expect to come across something like this at Brighton Dome. In fact I can’t ever remember witnessing this happening here before. The staff are always polite and courteous!
Right then, back to the music! So things obviously needed cheering up a bit, and what better way than Marc informing us that it was Neal X’s birthday today and that we were all going to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him! We did and the band played the tune as well. The love was restored in the room and Neal and Marc had a hug! If I had to select my Top 5 tracks of the set, they would all be found from here on in, as for me the performance went up a few notches. Two of the five would be the next couple of choices, ‘How Can I Be Sure’ and ‘The London Boys’. ‘How Can I Be Sure’ being a 1967 hit for The Young Rascals, but I was too young to remember that one, but I do know David Cassidy’s UK No.1 single version, which might just be his best tune. ‘The London Boys’ was the B-side of the David Bowie ‘Rubber Band’ single from back in 1966. The David Bowie link continued with the arrival of ‘Stardom Road’ which came out in 1971 by Third World War and was recorded by Bowie’s muse Dana Gillespie two years later, Marc covered it in 2007. Initially, Marc was intending to play his take on Leonard Cohen’s 1984 ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’ single, but this was dropped from the set.
It was segue time again and the next trio selection was Marc’s take on Jacques Brel’s ‘If You Go Away’, with solely Marc on vocals accompanied by the piano, then ‘Big Louise’ (Scott Walker cover) came along and the double bass was added into the mix. The band then carried on playing as Marc recounted his stories of meeting Steve Harley as a teenager at Liverpool Stadium and asking to get his programme signed, with the reply being “p*ss off!”, which drew a hearty laugh from the crowd. He then went on to say that he met with Steve many times since, but now he has sadly passed away, Marc’s choice tune being Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s classic ‘Sebastian’, another of my Top 5 tunes tonight but one in which for me can’t actually be bettered, check it out on 1975’s ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’ album.
After ‘The House Is Haunted’ (Mel Tormé cover), Alex Lipinski arrives on stage with his acoustic guitar and joins the musician for the next three songs, these being ‘Days Of Pearly Spencer’ (David McWilliams cover), ‘Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart’ (Gene Pitney cover) cue arm waving by the audience and the legendary ‘Tainted Love’ (another of my Top 5’s) which was composed by Ed Cobb (formerly of American group the Four Preps) and was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964 and famously in 1981 by Soft Cell. Gloria Jones, being the driver of the Mini 1275 GT, that struck a tree near Barnes Common, killing Marc Bolan on 16th September 1977, on the way back to Bolan’s Richmond property. Track of the night for me was the terrific over the top delivery of Jacques Brel’s ‘Jackie’ with the classic lines: “If I could be for only an hour; If I could be for an hour every day; If I could be for just one little hour; Cute in a stupid ass way”. On completion, this tune received the biggest applause of the night thus far and even a standing ovation from many seated folk.
I guess it wouldn’t be right to have a Marc Almond covers set that didn’t include a Dusty Springfield hit, and so we were given ‘I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten’ which was penned by Clive Westlake and released by Dusty on 1st June 1968. Another standing ovation was awarded and it was clear that this was the end of the set with Marc introducing all those on stage and giving out the thank you’s. However, there was time for just one more tune, the 28th of the night, this being ‘I’m Not Anyone’ (Sammy Davis Jr. cover) and they concluded at 10:09pm and after their bows everyone vacated the stage a minute later. It had been a most enjoyable night.
For those wanting a further Marc fix, he will be returning to Brighton later on in the year as special guest of Jools Holland at the Brighton Centre on Saturday 14th December – Purchase your tickets HERE.
Marc Almond:
Marc Almond – vocals
Neal X – electric guitar, backing vocals, leg slapping, finger clicks
Tom Weller – drums
Hugh Wilkinson – tom toms, congas, xylophone, piano, percussion, tambourine
Martin Watkins – piano, mellotron, keyboards
Phil ‘Polecat’ Bloomberg – double-bass, bass guitar
Bryan Chambers – backing vocals
Ruth White – backing vocals
Florence Rawlings – backing vocals
Alex Lipinski – guitar (as guest)
Marc Almond setlist:
‘I’m The Light’ (Blue Cheer cover)
‘Gone With The Wind (Is My Love)’ (Rita Graham cover)
‘Elusive Butterfly’ (Bob Lind cover)
‘Trouble Of The World’ (Mahalia Jackson cover) (with Bryan Chambers)
‘A Woman’s Story’ (Cher cover)
‘The Heel’ (Eartha Kitt cover)
‘The Boss Is Dead’ (Charles Aznavour cover)
‘Yesterday When I Was Young’ (Charles Aznavour cover)
‘What Makes A Man’ (Charles Aznavour cover)
‘I Have Lived’ (Charles Aznavour cover)
‘Terrapin’ (Syd Barrett cover)
‘Gloomy Sunday’ (Kalmár Pál cover)
‘Dream Lover’ (Bobby Darin cover)
‘One Night Of Sin’ (Elvis Presley cover)
‘Happy Birthday’ (traditional)
‘How Can I Be Sure’ (The Young Rascals cover)
‘The London Boys’ (David Bowie cover)
‘Stardom Road’ (Third World War cover)
‘If You Go Away’ (Jacques Brel cover)
‘Big Louise’ (Scott Walker cover)
‘Sebastian’ (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel cover)
‘The House Is Haunted’ (Mel Tormé cover)
‘Days Of Pearly Spencer’ (David McWilliams cover)
‘Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart’ (Gene Pitney cover)
‘Tainted Love’ (Gloria Jones cover)
‘Jackie’ (Jacques Brel cover)
‘I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten’ (Dusty Springfield cover)
‘I’m Not Anyone’ (Sammy Davis Jr. cover)
Support this evening came from Alex Lipinksi who took to the stage armed with his trusty left-handed acoustic guitar and mouth organ. He informed us that as he only had 20 minutes there would be less talk and he would be getting on with it. In fact I think his set was around 25 minutes, although there were only a handful of tunes. The first of these being ‘The Devil You Know’ and was sadly performed to an extremely sparse crowd, which was a shame, but mid set, Alex did thank those that had made the effort to get down early and check out an unknown artist, or maybe they had enjoyed his support set with Marc back in 2022 and wanted another helping! As with Marc’s set, the acoustics were perfect, every note and word was clearly audible and the storyline of the tunes could be understood.
Alex, who has also supported The Lemonheads next gave us ‘When Will I Be Home’ from his 2010 ‘Lonesome Train’ album. He informed us that he’s from Western Super Mare which is very different to Brighton which is a compliment! He then played ‘Coyote’ from his current album, ‘For Everything Under The Sun’, which for me was the pick of the bunch. He penned this tune during his North American trip when coming face-to-face with a pack of Coyotes. Clearly he survived as he is here with us this evening. He signed off with a Brighton connection tune in the form of Nick Cave’s ‘Into My Arms’ which I think he said that he hadn’t played live before! If you are a fan of the likes of Ralph McTell and John Denver, then Alex Lipinski is for you!
Alex Lipinski:
Alex Lipinski – vocals/guitar/harmonica
Alex Lipinski setlist:
‘The Devil You Know’
‘When Will I Be Home’
‘Coyote’
‘Into My Arms’ (Nick Cave cover)
