BARRY ADAMSON + NADINE KHOURI – KOMEDIA STUDIO, BRIGHTON 23.5.24
Tonight is my first gig back after the gruelling Great Escapes from last weekend, where I took in the delights of no less than 33 performances across the three days and earned myself several blisters on my feet as a reward. You can find those articles HERE and HERE. This evening thankfully I am based in just one venue, this being the compact Studio within Brighton’s Komedia in the heart of North Laine. I’m here for my first ever encounter with Manchester born Barry Adamson who last performed in Brighton on 2nd November 2022, which was also at the Komedia. Unfortunately we weren’t able to attend that night on account of already been booked to cover the ‘Mutations’ festival opening party at the Green Door Store (Review HERE). Adamson has a brand new album out titled ‘Cut To Black’ (released 17th May and available HERE) and is promoting it with an 8-date UK tour which opened up last night at Strange Brew in Bristol. Tomorrow, Barry will head North up to The Jazz Café in London and then Hertford Corn Exchange on Saturday. The final 4 dates will run from next Wednesday to Saturday and sees Barry dropping in at Deaf Institute in Manchester, Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, King Tuts in Glasgow, and concludes at the Think Tank in Newcastle. From here he is off to mainland Europe for more live dates.
The new album ‘Cut To Black’ features 10 brand new compositions and is his first studio album since 2016’s ‘Know Where To Run’. Barry was famously the bass player in post punk band Magazine between 1978 and 1981, where it is said that he learnt to play the bass overnight. They disbanded five albums later, but in the meantime three-fifths of Magazine (guitarist John McGeoch, keyboardist Dave Formula and bassist Barry Adamson) were drafted in to assist Midge Ure, Steve Strange, Rusty Egan with their New Romantic act Visage, although Adamson left the band after playing on its debut single, but then returned as a session musician. Barry’s singular style was then spotted by The Birthday Party, with whom he played several times and then he then went on to become a founder member of Nick Cave’s illustrious Bad Seeds in 1984. Since 1989, with the release of debut album ‘Moss Side Story’, Adamson has forged his own solo career and has released a whole host of albums.
Barry has also worked with some of the film industry’s most intriguing mavericks including Derek Jarman (‘The Last of England’, 1987), David Lynch (‘The Lost Highway’ 1997), Oliver Stone (‘Natural Born Killers’, 1994) and Danny Boyle (‘The Beach’, 2000). Having released nine studio albums, including the 1992 Mercury Music Prize nominated ‘Soul Murder’, 1996’s ‘Oedipus Schmoedipus’, an album celebrating his 40 years in music, ‘Memento Mori’ (2018), and his most recent release, ‘Know Where To Run’, which was in part inspired by a recent US tour, back playing with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds after 23 years, Adamson’s talents are as much demand by new generations of artists as he was after his first solo release, with collaborations in recent years across a variety of art forms, including an Olivier Award winning ballet performance by Sylvie Guillem and the Ballet Boyz scored by Adamson.
This evening though is very much about ‘Cut To Black’ with no less than nine cuts being performed from the long-player, kicking off with the first four tunes, these being ‘These Would Be Blues’, ‘Cut To Black’, ‘Demon Lover’, and ‘Manhattan Satin’. He is joined on the compact stage by a couple of chums whose names I didn’t quite get, but they could have been Kayla Maxam on drums and electronic presets and Ian Ross on Squier Jazz bass and backing vocals. Barry himself is on lead vocals, Airline electric guitar with Bigsby tremolo, Falcon acoustic guitar, and an iPad sized unit which he plays keys on. Clearly Barry has a loyal following as we were packed in line sardines without room to move our feet. We were in his company for 66 minutes from 9pm to 10:06pm and in that time we were given 13 tunes.
Barry seems relaxed with the crowd and banter is exchanged between them, but standing at the front I was making notes on my phone and wearing a t-shirt that he kept staring at. After a while he pipes up to the crowd that he’s scared of me! After the following number he tentatively held out his hand and I shook it, which was quite possibly a relief to him. Not sure I’ve had this effect on a band before, maybe it was also my note taking between tracks as opposed to clapping? Anyway moving on….
Selection five was sedate blueys jazz ‘The Beaten Side Of Town’ which was the first of three in the set culled from 2008’s ‘Back To The Cat’ album. For this Barry utilized the iPad device for the first time. After the conclusion of this track, Barry swapped his electric guitar for his acoustic one and sat on the stool and gave us a solo medley of ‘Sundown County’ from 2021’s ‘Steal Away’ EP, mixed with his rendition of the T. Rex classic ‘Hot Love’, for which some of the crowd sang along to and I reckon that this was possibly their highlight of the set, judging by the loudest cheers thus far, by some distance.
The trio were back in action for ‘The Climber’, found on 2021’s ‘Steal Away’ EP, and then ‘Straight ‘Til Sunrise’ (from 2008’s ‘Back To The Cat’ album), which the drummer had piano and horns on the presets for this more uplifting tune, which strangely reminded me of David Essex. ‘One Last Midnight’ from the new LP came next, followed by ‘Civilization’ (from 2008’s ‘Back To The Cat’ album), and then the beat tempo increased with the 1960’s Tamla Motown sounding ‘The Last Words Of Sam Cooke’.
There were now just two numbers left, but these might have well been by a different singer as they were completely add odds with everything that had gone before. First of these being ‘Still I Rise’ which included the lyrics “And so we stroll, remembering Albert Johanson, Albert Adamson, the soul murdered father, the Moss Side Story, the negro inside me”. The track’s vocals were rapped to us, and in particular towards yours truly, hence the aforementioned handshake at the end. He signed off with ‘Jazz Devil’, which like its predecessor was culled from the 1998 ‘As Above So Below’ album. The backbeat of this is a carbon copy of Iggy Pop’s ‘Nightclubbing’, or even more so The Human League’s cover version. Barry amusingly switched the lyrics “I cruise the streets of London with just one thing on my mind” to “I cruise the streets of Rottingdean with just one thing on my mind”. And this was our lot! I can’t imagine a single person in the audience walking away from the gig without feeling that they have had a great night out. However, for me, I much preferred the final two songs, but I felt the need to broaden my musical palette, and so where better to start than with Barry. No doubt he’ll shake to that!
Barry Adamson:
Barry Adamson – vocals, guitars, electronic keys
Ian Ross? – bass, backing vocals
Kayla Maxam? – drums, electronic presets
Barry Adamson setlist:
‘These Would Be Blues’ (from 2024 ‘Cut To Black’ album)
‘Cut To Black’ (from 2024 ‘Cut To Black’ album)
‘Demon Lover’ (from 2024 ‘Cut To Black’ album)
‘Manhattan Satin’ (from 2024 ‘Cut To Black’ album)
‘The Beaten Side Of Town’ (from 2008 ‘Back To The Cat’ album)
‘Sundown County’ / ‘Hot Love’ (T. Rex cover) / ‘Sundown County’ (from 2021 ‘Steal Away’ EP)
‘The Climber’ (from 2021 ‘Steal Away’ EP)
‘Straight ‘Til Sunrise’ (from 2008 ‘Back To The Cat’ album)
‘One Last Midnight’ (from 2024 ‘Cut To Black’ album)
‘Civilization’ (from 2008 ‘Back To The Cat’ album)
‘The Last Words Of Sam Cooke’ (from 2024 ‘Cut To Black’ album)
‘Still I Rise’ (from 1998 ‘As Above So Below’ album)
‘Jazz Devil’ (from 1998 ‘As Above So Below’ album)
Support this evening (and indeed on the whole tour) comes from Nadine Khouri who currently is based in her adoptive city of Marseille. Thus far she has dropped a couple of albums, with the debut being 2017’s ‘The Salted Air’, which was followed by ‘Another Life’ which dropped to much praise on 18th November 2022, with The Line of Best Fit stating “It’s an intensely intimate experience, all shadowplay and smoke. Khouri’s sultry alto is undeniably the star – her allusive, sometimes provocative phrasing lends the album’s nine nocturnal songs an air of mystery and wisdom.” You can find both albums HERE.
This evening Nadine graced us with her presence at 8pm and for the next 31 minutes she gave us 7 or 8 self-penned compositions, with a majority being culled from the latest platter. It’s just Nadine, her red Epiphone guitar and 7 foot pedals which offer up echo and the backbeat. Vocally Nadine carries off an American twang which is not unlike Lana Del Rey and it’s in blues rock territory. The audience were polite and quiet and you could have heard a pin drop as they say. Nadine said it’s been quite a while since she last played live in Brighton. This was very much a stripped back set as opposed to her recorded material. She performed her latest tune ‘The Night Will Keep Us Warm’ and her guitar twang reminded me of some of Richard Hawley’s work which certainly isn’t a bad thing. The sound by Adrian was crisp and clear which is ideal for this kind of music. The occasional addition of the dry ice added to the overall intimate club vibe and the audience enjoyed being in Nadine’s company.
Nadine Khouri setlist:
‘Broken Star’ (from 2017 ‘The Salted Air’ album)
‘The Night Will Keep Us Warm’ (a 2024 single)
‘Box Of Echoes’ (from 2022 ‘Another Life’ album)
‘Vertigo’ (from 2022 ‘Another Life’ album)
‘Lo-Fi Moon’ / ‘You Got A Fire’ (from 2022 ‘Another Life’ album / (from 2017 ‘The Salted Air’ album)
‘Keep On Pushing These Walls’ (from 2022 ‘Another Life’ album)
‘Another Life’ (from 2022 ‘Another Life’ album)
