Mekons At The Aladdin

Great show in Portland last night, more words later when I'm more able to, but I did manage to jot down the set list,.... (thoughts of the show are now at the end)



Give Us Wine Or Money
Dickie Chalkie And Nobby
Heaven And Back
Oblivion
Thee Olde Trip To Jerusalem
Tina
Millionaire
Diamonds
The Hope & Anchor
Cockermouth
Abernant 1984/5
Ghosts Of American Astrounauts
Hole In The Ground
Perfect Mirror

Encore:
Powers & Horror
Wild And Blue
Slightly South Of The Border
Hard To Be Human




Yes, a very good show, including an energetic and appreciated set by the Sadies (I did not know they were playing later on that night at Dante's, so if Jon or Sally joined them onstage to play, it was at that venue, I'd heard that they had joined them onstage a couple of days earlier).



Anyway, there was no Tom at the show, he had flown back home a couple of days earlier with regard to the imminent birth of his fourth child. Way to go Tom. I suppose Tom's absence meant the removal of a couple of his songs from the set that had been played earlier, such as Fletcher Christian, but I do have to say that Lu did a very good job taking the lead on Heaven And Back as well as singing backup on most of the other songs.



The new songs from Natural were wonderful, with a special nod for the haunting version of Perfect Mirror that closed the set. Rico's singing on Diamonds was another highlight, as was Sally performing The Hope And Anchor. Of course, Jon's wonderful dancing whilst performing Cockermouth is already something of a legend, yet another twist of the slightly unexpected from this band


All of the older songs sounded fine in the semi-acoustic format as well, with Ghosts Of American Astronauts standing out. Still, hearing classic tunes such as Tina, Abernant 1984/5, Hard To Be Human and Hole In The Ground isn't exactly a waste of time after all of these years either, and the smallish crowd, many of whom had never seen the band before I don't believe, reacted very appreciatively. The couples waltzing during the encore of Wild And Blue was something to see, preceded as it was by four Mekon men (Jon, Rico, Steve and Lu) performing Power& Horror in the theater alcove stage left, with both Jon and Steve holding the curtains back at times so that Rico could be seen playing his accordian.



I got there early enough to get a decent parking spot and to have a meal at the Lamp just before the doors opened, it was nice to see the band troop in after the soundcheck and have their drinks and meals sitting next to me (I wouldn't think of going up to anybody in a situation like that, so I let them be; they all looked to be in good spirits waiting for the clock to pass and the show to begin).




A top night out, there's still no other band I appreciate more, on various levels, than the Mekons. When they go, it will be a big loss in the music world; it's just great enough to appreciate them whilst they are here.