Of his past choices, the smooth, soulful Above the Clouds and a spiky Into Tomorrow, both lifted from his debut solo outing in 1992, came loaded with lyrical questions and doubts about himself, and you feel Weller works best when still striving to prove something, both to himself and others. Such familiarity paid off in terms of generating a more vocal response, and there remains satisfaction to be found in some of those cuts, from the suitably beefy rock of “The Changingman” to the mellow pop of “Broken Stones”, although the perennially popular “You Do Something To Me” here sounded leaden, a dreary ballad for waving camera phones and bellows of “go on Craddo!” aimed at guitarist Steve Craddock during his solo.Īnd yet Weller himself, admirably and tenaciously, refuses to succumb to the easiness of comfortable nostalgia. Despite the length of the set, selections from his solo career were culled mostly from two periods - the recent offerings of this year’s “Fat Pop, Volume 1” and 2020’s “On Sunset”, and the Britpop friendly run of work that earned him the Modfather tag, in particular “Stanley Road” and “Heavy Soul”, with his seven albums from 2000 to 2015 cut out completely. The rustic strum of “Village” and the languid, hazy “More” were worst affected, so laid back as to be almost horizontal, and for all Weller’s strengths as both writer and performer, this happened too often during the first hour, resulting in music competing with crowd chatter. That’s fine when cutting through a familiar favourite like the sharp rock of “Peacock Suit” or the fresh, funky tone of newbie “Cosmic Fringes”, bolstered by having both a drummer and percussionist onstage to build up a fine rhythm, but it’s less satisfying on calmer material, which drifted before a Glasgow crowd that reacted quite tepidly. Silver haired but still head bobbing away, Weller himself remains a no frills performer, the odd words uttered here and there, but otherwise getting down to business. The latter was represented early, and the blend of zestful melody and lyrical rage of “Shout to the Top” sadly sounded as relevant as ever, while “My Ever Changing Moods” breezed along, both highlights of a first half that was a mixed bag. Look Alive!, their latest effort which was recorded only months after the bands return to Australia after their second European tour of 2019, represents a marriage of the two different styles of Stroppies recordings and rounds out an incredibly productive twelve months for the group.It was a sprawling trawl though his varied career, including a handful of tracks from his old bands, the Jam and the Style Council. Following on from their 2017 demo cassette and a sling of singles, 2019 saw the release of their debut LP Whoosh!, a studio-based affair that evolved The Stroppies sound, underpinned with a newly discovered melodic classicism.
Originally starting as the DIY home recording project of Angus Lord and Claudia Serfaty, The Stroppies have now evolved into what some might call a “proper band”. The Stroppies will be supporting Paul Weller at the Guildhall. The fruits of these labours will surface in the new year…watch this space. Paul has recently been in the studio writing and playing new songs. This run of dates is just the beginning of more live activity with further shows looking to be added. Paul was last on the road when he played several shows as part of the regular “Forest Live” outdoor gigs in summer but is always most at home performing at great concert venues. This tour takes in venues such as old favourite Glasgow Barrowland and includes and few less often visited places such as the Oxford New Theatre and Norwich UEA.