Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > April > 20 > Entry
Review: Nick Lowe at Antone’s
“People change,” Nick Lowe declared in his opening number at Antone’s last Friday, but he needn’t have worried about explaining himself: Whatever hits his fan base may have taken when he forsook power pop for more subdued styles some years back, he was still able to fill the club with followers who knew more recent songs by heart.
Yes, they were delighted by the old stuff: Hits like “Cruel to Be Kind,” “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock & Roll),” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” drew delighted applause — and some elicited audience sing-alongs that harmonized sweetly with the singer rather than drowning him out. But the wryly self-observational material of his newish album “At My Age” and its predecessor “The Convincer” also held the crowd rapt enough that chatter back at the bar was the exception, not the rule.
Lowe noted that he was “expanding my programme” on this tour, singing more old favorites than usual in order to push a bonus-laden reissue of his 1978 LP “Jesus of Cool” (originally released Stateside as “Pure Pop for Now People”). Fans may have wished the promo agenda had included a budget for a touring band to flesh out some of the songs, but even by himself (opener Ron Sexsmith joined him for one encore number) Lowe worked the crowd with a charm that belied all the age-conscious self-deprecation of recent records.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.
By El Coyote
April 21, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this
Some of those “sweet harmonies” were courtesy of a very excited Austin-based Nick Lowe tribute band, The Lowelies.