Grant Lee Philips played at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds on a wet and windy Thursday evening. His incredible, dusky voice has aged like a fine cliché and his guitar still carries with it the same old power. It’s heartening when someone with a back catalogue as brilliant as Philips’ actually plays some stuff out of it. Too often do artists of his vintage stick to only playing tracks off their crap new album. That being said, Philips’s new album is amazing, too, sticking more to mellower stuff à la ‘Mighty Joe Moon’ and ‘Mockingbirds’ (‘Mockingbirds’ was the one song I was yearning for at the end of his set but unfortunately he left us hanging). The gig wasn’t a nostalgia fest, though, and some of his new ones like ‘Cry Cry’ and ‘San Andrea’s Fault’ have the same lilting passion of his work in Grant Lee Buffalo.

Songs of note include the final one, ‘Loaded Gun’, which is obviously indebted to Johnny Cash, but where Cash would be dry and morose and reduced, Philips opens up the chugging guitar riff and it has the same power as if a bassist and a drummer were with him.

Indeed, I came into the gig expecting to see the full line-up that released his most recent album, The Narrows, however was pleasantly surprised to see just Philips alone with a guitar. When an artist can strip back songs completely and it still be amazing and lapped up by the audience, it’s a sign of great song writing. ‘Fuzzy’ in particular was phenomenal, so was ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Teardrop’, and his encore, ‘The Shining Hour’.

What surprised me was the level of talking onstage. Philips in the past might be accused of being quite silent, or you’d imagine so, but lots of his song were accompanied by a wry, hilariously funny observation or meaning by the song delivered in his soft Californian burr. Philips himself seemed to be having as much of a good time as the audience, saying once, “I’m having so much fun! We’ve got to do this again sometime.” Agreed, Grant, agreed. He doesn’t seem jaded and acidic from his past successes unlike some (*cough* Richard Hawley) and he readily said hello to everybody and isn’t a knob (*cough* Richard Hawley) – got to get that tickly throat sorted out – which shows a level of humility that is wonderful, considering how many dates he is into his tour.

Something else that surprised me was the age range present. I walked into the hallowed halls of the Brudenell expecting to see a crowd that could have come out of a photoshoot for the ‘before’ shots of hair loss treatment cream. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised. There was a big range, and only about 60% of them were wearing sensible shoes!

All-in-all it was a fantastic night, I thought so, the rest of the audience thought so, and the boy Philips thought so too. If you get a chance to go see him, DO. Grant Lee Philips is one of the greatest songwriters of our time and we are lucky to have him around.

Will Ainsley

[image: grantleephilips.com]