Joe Henry - Arts Theatre, Soho, London
My brother Andy and I went along to see Joe Henry last night. I’ve been a massive fan since his ‘Short Man’s Room’ album in 1992. Having never toured Australia it’s the first time I’ve been able to see him play. These days it seems like he’s better known as a producer than as a performer in his own right, as the few hundred capacity Arts Theatre in Soho wasn’t quite a full house.
This is a shame as Joe is a wonderful songwriter and great showman who put on a great performance. Dressed in a stylish dark shirt and loose dark tie, he was accompanied by a versatile duo on double-bass and drums – they managed to conjure a diversity of sounds from the Spanish-tango of “Stop”, a South American lilt on “This Afternoon”, to more straight ahead acoustic rock-pop with a slightly jazzy lilt.
The lions share of the show came from Joe’s last couple of albums – mostly his great 2007 release ‘Civilians’ – with the title track and “Time Is A Lion” highlights for me. We also got a smatter of older songs, including three from 2003’s ‘Tiny Voices’ – “This Afternoon” my favourite of these; “Like She Was a Hammer” and the title-track from 1999s ‘Fuse’. My favourites of the night was the title track to 1996’s ‘Trampoline’ – possibly my favourite Joe Henry song of all time, and Spanish-styled “Stop” from 2001’s ‘Scar’.
One of the more unusual inclusions was Joe’s take on “You Can’t Fail Me Now” which he wrote for Loudon Wainwright III to perform on the ‘Knocked Up’ film soundtrack that Joe produced. Show closer “Edgar Bergen” segued into a brief reading off “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.
Henry is as witty between songs as his lyrics would suggest. Early on he apologies for not touring London for so long with a simple “I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you”. But his funniest was the intro to “Stop”, a song better known to most of the crowd through sister-in-law Madonna’s recording of it as “Don’t Tell Me”. As Joe explained it, “we recorded it as a tango, she recorded it as a hit”.
My only quibble was we didn’t get any material from Joe’s earlier – more Alt-Country albums like ‘Short Man’s Room’ or ‘Kindness of the World’. Although given the distinct stylistic break between his pre and post ‘Trampoline’ material – it’s easy to see why the more straight ahead country stuff is dismissed. I don’t think Joe Henry does a lot of touring these days – so if you do get the opportunity to check him out live, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Full setlist:
Civilians
Scare Me To Death
Civil War
Time Is A Lion
You Can't Fail Me Now
This Afternoon
I Will Write My Book
Sold
Stop
Like She Was A Hammer
Fuse
Trampoline
Flag
encore:
Edgar Bergen / I’ve Got You Under My Skin
This is a shame as Joe is a wonderful songwriter and great showman who put on a great performance. Dressed in a stylish dark shirt and loose dark tie, he was accompanied by a versatile duo on double-bass and drums – they managed to conjure a diversity of sounds from the Spanish-tango of “Stop”, a South American lilt on “This Afternoon”, to more straight ahead acoustic rock-pop with a slightly jazzy lilt.
The lions share of the show came from Joe’s last couple of albums – mostly his great 2007 release ‘Civilians’ – with the title track and “Time Is A Lion” highlights for me. We also got a smatter of older songs, including three from 2003’s ‘Tiny Voices’ – “This Afternoon” my favourite of these; “Like She Was a Hammer” and the title-track from 1999s ‘Fuse’. My favourites of the night was the title track to 1996’s ‘Trampoline’ – possibly my favourite Joe Henry song of all time, and Spanish-styled “Stop” from 2001’s ‘Scar’.
One of the more unusual inclusions was Joe’s take on “You Can’t Fail Me Now” which he wrote for Loudon Wainwright III to perform on the ‘Knocked Up’ film soundtrack that Joe produced. Show closer “Edgar Bergen” segued into a brief reading off “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.
Henry is as witty between songs as his lyrics would suggest. Early on he apologies for not touring London for so long with a simple “I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you”. But his funniest was the intro to “Stop”, a song better known to most of the crowd through sister-in-law Madonna’s recording of it as “Don’t Tell Me”. As Joe explained it, “we recorded it as a tango, she recorded it as a hit”.
My only quibble was we didn’t get any material from Joe’s earlier – more Alt-Country albums like ‘Short Man’s Room’ or ‘Kindness of the World’. Although given the distinct stylistic break between his pre and post ‘Trampoline’ material – it’s easy to see why the more straight ahead country stuff is dismissed. I don’t think Joe Henry does a lot of touring these days – so if you do get the opportunity to check him out live, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Full setlist:
Civilians
Scare Me To Death
Civil War
Time Is A Lion
You Can't Fail Me Now
This Afternoon
I Will Write My Book
Sold
Stop
Like She Was A Hammer
Fuse
Trampoline
Flag
encore:
Edgar Bergen / I’ve Got You Under My Skin
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