Paul Weller did three nights at the Irving Plaza in New York in January. No big deal, as gigs go; Weller will play New York now, thankfully, every couple years. But this time was different: as a charity event, Weller dedicated each night to different periods of his career. First night: A whole night of Jam songs. Second: Style Council. Third: Solo stuff. Tickets for the first two were up to $1,000 on eBay. Here’s some clips, which I basically post for my own reference, but enjoy.
“Shopping” and “Tales from the Riverbank.” Me, I wouldn’t open with “Shopping”; although it’s one of my favorite all-time Jam songs and mixtape favorite, I’m more of an “In the City” man myself.
“Butterfly Collector.”
“Man in the Cornershop.”
And, OK, I’ll say wow now: “Thick as Thieves.”
And here’s one for the punters: “A Town Called Malice.” Someone English please email me and tell me if I finally used “punters” right in context.
Why doesn’t Weller just play these songs with his solo stuff? Is he, like, the punk John Fogerty or something, unwilling to intermix his old bands with the stuff he’s doing now?
