I've still got 2 tickets for Manchester to get shot of if anyone's at all intrestred. I'll let them both go half price now at 17.50 for the pair.

I'm now going up to Edinburgh on Friday instead.

Out of the new songs I guess it's 'Girls Like It Too' I'm looking forward to but that's just because it's the one I'm most familiar with. I'm gonna have to get over to you tube to give the others another listen. I'm wondering how he's going to go about turning the concert into a disco afterwards... I'm sure that's going to be fun!

Other than that I'm just hoping there'll be some suprise in the set which will keep me talking about it for months! I wonder if he'll still be finishing with a cover?

edit - on further listening 'Told You Twice' is the one that's stuck for me! 

If there's any aspiring musicians attending the tour make sure you take a demo along as there will be a box at the door to drop it in. Apparently Rough Trade are looking for new acts and Geoff Travis has promised to listen to every demo collected.

As well, there was an article in the Metro Newspaper today in which Jarvis talks about rough trade and the tour. No new news in it to report but it made quite a nice read anyway.

-- Edited by weed at 16:17, 2008-11-25

i'm going to shepherds bush and manchester........  

Any feedback from the gig in Sheffield last night?

just a quickie about the Sheffield gig

plenty of new songs played, most of them we're already aware of, but there were one or two I hadn't heard before. In particular listen out for 'fucking song' which sounded ace. Girls like it too was also excellent
Unfortunately Angela is still on the set :(
Fat Children, Black Magic, Tonight, Big Julie, DLHWYT, Cunts, Big Stuff and I Will Kill Again all stay on (as does the beard).

Jay

oh how good was last night then, yes i'm glad he did angela too i went to the loo then.  not as much lectury stuff as i thought there would be, it was just slightly longer banter between songs.  maybe he did more in sheffield and it didn't go down well??

Set-lists please someone.

Lots of good clips on youtube I see aswell.

And a review from BBC 6Music:

Prof Cocker

Jarvis performs and lectures to celebrate 30 yrs of Rough Trade

27 November 2008 - Jarvis Cocker previewed new material at the second of Rough Trade's 30th anniversary gigs at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire last night (26 Nov).

The shows kicked off in Sheffield on Tuesday (25 Nov), Cocker is being supported by anti-folk singer songwriter and comic artist Jeffrey Lewis on this jaunt.

The ex-Pulp frontman's new material is sounding as strong, if not stronger than his first solo album, Jarvis, which was released on Rough Trade in 2006.

The set was a Pulp-free affair and the crowd were unfazed as they were blatantly there to hear their idol's solo and new material.

New songs

If new tracks Complications, Girls Like It Too and Angela were anything to go by, Cocker's next solo album will be fantastic. Standout tune I'm Not Deep, I Am Profoundly Shallow saw Cocker's lyrical observations and word-smithery reach new heights, as he professes to have come to the conclusion that he really is in no way deep or profound at all.

Songs from Jarvis like Black Magic and Don't Let Him Waste Your Time (a stormer of an encore), Fat Children and Big Julie were major crowd-pleasers and saw massive sing-a-longs. Solo, Jarvis Cocker is as, if not more, energetic and compelling onstage as he was in Pulp's heyday - and he still cuts a fine figure in his brown tweed suit and brogues.

"I'm not very deep, I am profoundly  shallow" - Jarvis Cocker

The 'lectures'

Cocker is also delivering a series of 'lectures' as part of this tour, however they were more like funny interludes than anything too taxing for a gig audience. Londoners were treated to a short history of Shepherd's Bush Empire ('Did you know Max Miller played here back in the day?'). There was also a nod to Terry Wogan's Wogan which was recorded there in the eighties.

The 'lectures' culminated in one slide on the back wall showing the logo for the Westfield shopping complex which opened recently in Shepherd's Bush, with a mixed reaction from local businesses. Cocker admitted to being 'addicted to shopping', but that, what he called, huge Capitalist conglomerates like Westfield were just unnecessary (but admitted they did good pizza).

Cocker then proceeded to give his label and management for the past 15 years, Rough Trade, a feel good pat on the back. Saying at least with independent shops like Rough Trade: "You go in there and you buy something you want " - and the crowd were highly vocal in their agreement.

3 cheers for Rough Trade

In an era where downloading and online streaming are king, Rough Trade's 30 th anniversary shows seem  to say there is definitely still a need for pokey record shops - although they are not so pokey anymore.

This evening's show was no nostalgia fest for Rough Trade, with DJ sets of new and old material from the label and a new single from The Veils handed to you as you entered the venue, it said that the record label and shop are still flying the flag for new music.

Also, founders Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee invited new bands to bring demos along to the gigs which they promised they would listen too.

Another Rough Trade label stalwart Jeffrey Lewis' opening set was genius. Lewis also presented a short history of Rough Trade which is essential viewing for anyone who is a bit hazy on the track record of this legendary label and shop.

Remaining tour dates:

28 Nov - Edinburgh Picture House
30 Nov - Manchester Academy
02 Dec - Birmingham Academy




I wonder if any bootlegs from these gigs will surface? Though with the proliferation of video clips being uploaded in almost real-time these days onto youtube et al. perhaps muddy audio-only recordings of live gigs from the audience are now obsolete...


-- Edited by Eamonn at 15:08, 2008-11-27

Yeah, I like the harmonies and sparse, twinking guitar on Never Told You/I'm Not Deep...quite 10cc I thought, (in a good way).
The chorus isn't far off Girls Like It Too's which in turn has a hint of Auschwitz To Ipswich about it.

I'm going to see him tomorrow, can't wait! New songs are sounding great.

andy wrote:

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new song here http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=fAs7wxI6ziM

I know he probably didnt, but did he mention anything about a new album : recording, release date or anything news related ?

(He's got a beard ! )

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 I'm pretty positive he didn't play this in Sheffield!!! Wonder if he played something in Sheff that he didn't play in London.... am going to Birmingham and Manchester so will see I guess.
Weird that they didn't do it in Sheff though as it sounds great!

Jay


-- Edited by JayJay at 20:50, 2008-11-28

Edinburgh was fucking ace! The new songs sound fantastic. I have some pics and stuff to follow...

Haha. Jarv looks monged there! Was he drunk?

Still has the beard. Hmm. I am starting to like it. Still... It should go.

I'm in 2 minds about his beard too... He didn't seem drunk although I had had a few myself. Steve was really nice and laughed at my shit jokes!

I don't run the Dog & Parrot, but I do put bands on there once a month.

Really enjoyed tonights Manchester gig; Jarvis seemed a bit drunk on stage but I think it gave the gig a little more punch!

Loved the bit where he started tying his shoelace and the band improvised what resembled a hotel lobbey sound before Jarvis invented lyrics about tying his shoelace! Brilliant!

I also loved the way he had his cane out whilst intorudicng Running The World, it really made it feel like he was lecturing us, esp. with the beard. I stayed for a drink after and the disco went down reasonably well given that it was Sunday night.

Was really hoping to see him after to finally have my photo with him but no such luck, I think he's hiding from me!!

Top gig tho Jarv, I just wish there was a bit more energy in the crowd for Fat Children, there should be a proper dance pit for that!!

And I'm a person who despises encores too, mainly because they are intended to happen, but it did work a bit better for Jarv in that the very final song mixed well with the DJs (this song by the way was really, really good!), and also he now has more than one heavier song with which to start.

I think Jarvis was lucky to do what I would consider an average-good first album, meaning the pressures not on for this one, just room for improvement which I'm confident these songs will fill.

The support was really good too, I know I should know his name but forgot!

oh and i loved the shoe lace song: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGWA6JESdA


and there has to be a worthy mention to the fella who requested 'My Lighthouse' - good try!

Yeah, he played it in Sheffield - what I referred to as 'bones' - sorry for the confusion! I got confused by the way it was introduced.

Jay

Anyone bored enough / know enough Jarvis to make a full list of the news songs ?

...just realised that 'Never Said' is 'Never Told You', so 'Told You Twice' musnt have been played last night...that was confusing!

"In My Eyes" sounded fantastic, almost like something that could have been released during the Separations/His N Hers era.

Any idea who supported Jarvis last night?

Yeah it was the 1990s - I have their setlist if anyone's interested. Fairly entertaining to watch - the poor security guy couldn't get rid of the setlist though so ended up just thrusting it at me.
Played another new song last night that I hadn't heard at either Sheffield or Manchester - don't know what it was called though! It was of a fairly 'heavy' nature.
No Jarvis dj set last night - not enough people stayed around apparently :(

Jay

Thanks for your answers. Really enjoyed jarvis last night, thought it was fantastic in fact. If anyone knows of any recordings of the gig i would be grateful of a heads up.

On YouTube just enter Jarvis Cocker, and then above the serach results you can chose to order the results with the most recent first.

Angela is a really good song in my opinion, really catchy base line, but it seems quite unpopular!

That song in Manc was ace, lyrics about getting lost and you did get ost in the sound! Any idea what it's called?

Manchester was great as many have mentioned. Involved a lot of travelling, lugging bags around, getting not much sleep in hostels, but just about worth it.

I hadn't seen Jarvis in 7 years. The other night I was about a foot away from him when he was chatting with fans, while trying in vain to do some mixing on the decks. I was so tempted to start a conversation with him but I didn't want to hassle him as he was getting plenty of attention. Very strange position to be in - directly in front of someone who you've spent far too much of your life listening to, reading about etc.
And he looked fantastic, considering he'd just spent the previous 90 minutes bounding about on-stage.

Anyway, as for the gig itself, it goes without saying that it was very enjoyable but reading a couple of luke-warm press reviews got me thinking. I felt, as he played another new song, how privileged I was to see my favourite artist road-testing new material. It's not something that happens very often - you probably have to go back to the Pulp fan-club gigs in 1999/2000 for the last time Jarvis tried out a host of new songs that had yet to be recorded, never mind released. And I can see how that might become a little over-bearing for the 'neutral' who had come along just for a 'night out' as a few people I spoke to at the gig, had done. "Yeah, I know bits from his first album but he's a showman so I thought I'd just come down cos I knew he'd be entertaining" was how one such person put it. And until these new songs are released and hopefully burrow themselves into the public conscience a bit more than his first album did, I think that element of finding his between-song patter being more interesting than the songs themselves will still be evident from certain quarters. Which is a shame. Because though the night was about celebrating an independent music label and the DIY ethos of arts itself (special mention to Jeffrey Lewis whose singing-along to a slide show of cute & funny comic-strip stories of Rough Trade and The Fall were great fun), Jarvis is a born pop star albeit in the most unconventional way possible. But he needs to be shining. I think he actually craves some sort of commercial success for the first time since Different Class now and with some of these new songs, I think it might be his best chance in years to achieve it. And I can see where some accusations of "plod-rock" on his first album and even of certain parts of his show (his backing band still very much appear that way, talented as they are,) are valid. In fairness though, when you're not promoting anything, and previewing a lot of new songs mixed with some material from a 2 year-old well-received if moderately-selling album, it's a challenge to keep the average punter interested for a full hour and a half.

I don't think Tonite benefitted from the token Jarvis acoustic-guitar moment, I would have kept this out for the far more sing-along friendly Heavy Weather. And I think I Will Kill Again would be so more affecting if he performed it solely at the keyboard/piano as he does on the album. These gripes aside, I think the set-list was about as perfect as you could hope for. The start of the set was weighted with plenty of new songs to illustrate the most current material, the heavier, catchier songs from the first album (Black Magic, Fat Children), interspersed with the odd ballad (Big Julie) and the quality b-side that should have been on the album (Big Stuff), all the time with strong-sounding new material being confidently added. Still leaving time for strong encores led by the two most known songs - Cunts and Don't Let Him Waste Your Time.

So, what of the new songs?

Further Complications is strident with a catchy riff but I'm still not sure if it has enough to warrant the quality mark of approval. Ditto Caucasian Blues. Verdict retained until final, recorded versions are heard.
Girls Like It Too - possibly the single that could win him a big audience. Ironically, after over-dosing on this song, I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. It's still a great three and a half minute pop song though.
Never Told You - he's certainly gone all-out to make a statement with this one. Lyrically clever if not exactly ground-breaking stuff from JC, with the distinctive guitar licks and harmonies it sounds like a band playing - a 70's heavy rock band's "serious" love song. But that indulgence works I think, hopefully it still will once we get the proper version. Strong contender for being a single I'd imagine.
Angela - Agree with those who say it shouldn't be taken too seriously. Throw-away and short of much of a tune, but fun and short too. Little bit dirgey live, hopefully it will be glossed up a bit in the studio.
Apparently - The fact that the main guitar riff seemed a carbon-copy of that on Tonite really ruined the song for me as I couldn't concentrate on it properly. Seemed to have some clever lines, but I can't recall much more of it. Will need to hear again.
In My Eyes - Yes, yes, yes. The last song of the night. And after the huge personal disappointment of not hearing my favourite new song, Told You Twice, Jarvis finished the night with something to rival it. He prefaced the song with an introduction that immediately caught everyone's attention I think "About a guy who is at a disco, dancing, when an old partner appears and he knows if he stops dancing she'll disappear again forever". Queue a fantastically wistfully under-stated disco riff from the band, a breathy spoken-word monologue from Jarvis and a simple but brilliant groove-laden chorus. It's his most Barry White moment since Legendary Girlfriend and this song could soundtrack a hundred and one tv scenes of boy and girl reigniting their passion.

So it bodes very well indeed for the imminent new lp. I hope, as I expect, he's held back at least a clutch of songs in his locker. There seems to have been 9 or 10 newies played on the tour (the 7 I think in Manchester plus Just A Fucking Song and Told You Twice, I've possibly missed one or two out); if he's got a few more as innovative and distinctly Jarvis as In My Eyes, or as well crafted as Told You Twice, or hook-laden as Girls Like It Too, we really could be in for a treat come spring.

One last note on the gig. I thought there was a good spread of ages though it would have been nice to see a bit more head-banging during the louder numbers such as Angela and Fat Children.
Great night in all though.

-- Edited by Eamonn at 01:38, 2008-12-04

Just a thought... if the new album makes it out in Spring 2009, it'll have been about 2 and a half years between the first and second solo records - about the same as the gap between Different Class and This Is Hardcore. I don't know about anyone else, but to me this seems like quite a speedy turnaround, despite the identical gap between DC and Hardcore feeling like a small eternity at the time. Odd.

I've got five more days of my twenties left as it happens!

Sturdy wrote:

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Just a thought... if the new album makes it out in Spring 2009, it'll have been about 2 and a half years between the first and second solo records - about the same as the gap between Different Class and This Is Hardcore. I don't know about anyone else, but to me this seems like quite a speedy turnaround, despite the identical gap between DC and Hardcore feeling like a small eternity at the time. Odd.

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I thought that too. Though Eamonn has given a pretty logical explaination! ...As well as a fantastic review of the Manchester concert.

Happy birthday for next weik, Mark by the way!

I'll have you know I get prettier and more youthful by the day.