The Verve – The Roundhouse, London

Kimbo and I were lucky enough to score tickets to The Verve’s warm-up show in London. We’ve been to the Roundhouse to see The Good, The Bad and The Queen (ironically one-time Verve guitarist Simon Tong is not participating in this reformation because of his ongoing work with that band).

The band came on around 9pm – and played a very long set that stretched through to after 11pm. Strangely Richard Ashcroft somehow seems younger fronting the band than when we saw him last May at The Brixton Academy.

The setlist is a great mix of all periods of Verve material. As more of a late-coming to the band, I’m mostly familiar with their last album ‘Urban Hymns’ so I was glad to hear that get a decent airing. In particular “Sonnet” sounded great. One of the highlights for me was a mostly acoustic reading of “On Your Own” (I’d forgotten how great that song is).

They also played a new song “Sit and Wonder” and dug out the heavy-riffing b-side “Let The Damage Begin”. Early single “A Man Called Sun” was also a bit of a treat.

The main set finished on a high with “The Rolling People” leading into “The Drugs Don’t Work” before closing with a rousing “Bittersweet Symphony” – which used a loop of sampled strings to drive the song along. Ashcroft even let the enthusiastic crowd sing the “I’m a million different people from one day to the next” line which was a nice touch.

After a short break, the band returned for a quick four-song encore, kicking off with “A Northern Soul” straight into “History” before closing on the double-shot of “Lucky Man’ and “Come On”.

A New Decade
This Is Music
Gravity Grave
Weeping Willow
Life's An Ocean
Sonnet
Sit and Wonder
Man Called Sun
Already There
Stormy Clouds w/reprise
Let the Damage Begin
On Your Own
Rolling People
Drugs Don't Work
Bittersweet Symphony

A Northern Soul
History
Lucky Man
Come On