PETER PERRETT – SCALA, KING’S CROSS, LONDON 29.05.19
Peter Perrett seems to have been enjoying something of a renaissance over the last couple of years, largely as a result of giving up his previous bad habits. He released the excellent ‘How The West Was Won’ album in 2017, and has recently released the new album ‘Humanworld’, which has been very positively received.
By all accounts when The Only Ones toured in 2007, Perrett looked close to death. When he takes to the stage tonight he certainly looks far from unhealthy. In fact I’m willing to wager that there are many 67 year olds out there who’d like to be in as good a shape as him.
He is accompanied by a five piece band, including his sons Jamie on guitar and Peter Jr. on bass. They also two keyboard players, one of whom also plays the violin.
A surprising choice of opener is ‘Baby Don’t Talk’ from his album with The One: ‘Woke Up Sticky’ which was released in 1996. However, that is quickly followed by the title track of ‘How The West Was Won’. In fact, in short order we get the whole of side one of that particular album. A particular highlight is when Jamie Perrett and the violinist trade solos on the song ‘Life’s Sweet Endeavour’. It’s a testament to the quality of the material on the last two albums that not only does Perrett not have to rely on forty year old material for his set, but the audience are clearly very familiar with his more recent songs.
We do get ‘The Whole of The Law’ from the first Only Ones album roughly halfway through the set, but that simply serves as a punctuation more than anything else, as the second half of the set is songs from ‘Humanworld’, which is still about a week from being officially released. ‘Master of Destruction’ from the new album is very impressive and is written and sung by Jamie Perrett. Peter tells us that ‘48 Crash’ is an homage to Suzi Quatro (who had a song of the same name), and the set closes with ‘Warplan Red’, also from the new album.
Perrett and his band are not gone from the stage for long. In fact, one thing that has stood out about tonight’s show is Perrett’s sheer bloody enthusiasm! This enthusiasm is shared by the audience, and Peter appears somewhat bemused by their reaction.
The first encore is another new song: ‘I Want Your Dreams’, which was apparently written for Patti Paladin. This is followed by the inevitable (and let’s face it – utterly fantastic!!!) ‘Another Girl Another Planet’, with Jamie Perrett doing Only Ones guitarist John Perry proud with his coruscating solo. And the fun doesn’t end there! We get a rendition of ‘The Beast’ – also from the first Only Ones album – which absolutely takes no prisoners.
This has been an absolutely classic gig. It’s not a case of there ‘still being life in the old dog yet’. The last two albums and his current band represent nothing less than a rebirth for Peter Perrett. Let’s hope that he keeps on keeping on!
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