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Lloyd Cole / Photo – @cdrimagery

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LLOYD COLE
@ Hindley Street Music Hall,
Adelaide,
14th December 2023
(Live Review)

Review  and photos by Colin Reid (@cdrimagery)

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Lloyd Cole / Photo – @cdrimagery

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On Tuesday in Adelaide the Hindley Street Music Hall is hosting an evening with Lloyd Cole.  This is the first time that I’ve seen Lloyd solo. In prior years he has been accompanied by either by the likes of ex Commotions band mate Blair Cowan or his son Tom or on one occasion with the Lloyd Cole small ensemble. 

Hindley Street Music Hall seems a strange venue for Lloyd, it is large and cavernous and the intimacy of the Church at Trinity sessions would perhaps have suited a one man show more.  Possibly in deference to the age of the audience, we are all late 50s through to mid-60s and beyond, the venue has been converted into an all-seating affair and the upstairs has been closed off.  Even so it is very sad to see that at least 100 of the 300 seats remain unsold.

Lloyd walks across the stage, picks up one of the two acoustic guitars that are waiting for him, greets the audience and begins with ‘Don’t Look Back’ a single from his 1990 self-titled album.  On other occasions Lloyd has been fond of throwing out a quip that goes along the lines of “lets clear one thing up before we go any further, none of you are looking any younger either”. He doesn’t make it tonight perhaps because he is looking great – better indeed than many of the audience.

Next, he plays the first of tonight’s songs from the Lloyd Cole and the Commotions era ‘Mr Malcontent’ from 1987’s ‘Mainstream’.  The guitar playing is beautiful but his voice is struggling a little. “Are you cool?” Lloyd asks. Rather than a question about our taste in music or the cut of our clothes he is asking about the air-conditioning.  He confesses that he isn’t feeling very well and that it is too cold on stage.  His throat is clearly troubling him “there will be a great deal of improvisation tonight” songs will be in different keys to suit the range that his sore throat will allow his voice to reach.

We have all grown into adulthood with Lloyd. He remarks that he wrote ‘Trigger Happy’ when his eldest son, now 30, was only 1 year old before bringing us right up to date with ‘On Pain’ the very wonderful title track of his twelfth studio album released earlier this year.

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Lloyd Cole / Photo – @cdrimagery

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We are only 5 tracks in and Lloyd is feeling frustrated with the improvisation he is having to make to accommodate his throat “what the fuck, lets play this one in the correct key”.  Though clearly suffering he is trying to give us the best show that he can, the audience are really feeling every emotion behind every lyric. The only non-Lloyd penned song of the night is a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Can you hear me?’ the b-side of ‘Young Americans’. “This is a lovely song from my childhood in 1975 when I was 14” he shares with the audience.

There is a very different arrangement of ‘Rattlesnakes’ the first track of the night from his very first studio album ‘Easy Pieces’.  It is a version I’ve never heard before and was enjoying it immensely before he had to bring it to a premature conclusion.  “That’s the ending you do when you cut it short to avoid coughing”.  He is going to have to put in some sort of effort if he is going to get through a 30+ set list!

We are all in love with his older songs but the newer songs are what I’m here for just as much. Lloyd’s humour, much of it self-depreciating, and the little anecdotes that he shares are wonderful too. ‘Paying for it’ was from a time when he was at the height of his superpowers for using the word ‘babe’ in every song he jokes before sharing that the record company guy was right and he was wrong about it at the time.

‘Depressed’ is wonderful. He is in a playful mood and despite his throat issues he throws in a high pitched woop mid song. Also changing the lyrics from Rome Tennessee to Rome Italy and swapping the gender in the last verse to refer to himself rather than his girlfriend.

Lloyd closes the first set by saying that he has been tonight’s support act but not to worry he will be back after the intermission to really rock it out in the second set.

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Lloyd Cole / Photo – @cdrimagery

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Soon enough he is back. “This isn’t a fashion statement” he says referring to a scarf wrapped around his throat to keep it warmer and perhaps stops it from drying out. ‘Are you ready to be heartbroken’ brings the loudest response of the night from the crowd. Lloyd keeps rolling on with more big songs from The Commotions days and the crowd are rocking in our seats. “This is a terrible thing being sick” Lloyd chats with us “I’m unable to enjoy my Coopers Green and I do really like that beer.”

‘Butterfly’ and ‘Diminished Ex’ are wonderful as is ‘Myrtle and Rose’.  He is struggling with the voice now and wonders if he can sing it. “We’ll sing it” calls a lady from the audience and Lloyd appears genuinely happy that we do know that some of us are familiar with all of his back catalogue.

The main set closes after ‘Perfect Skin’ with only one song being cut from the setlist despite his illness struggles.  We aren’t sure if he will be able to return for an encore but like the singer-songwriter warrior that he is, Lloyd returns. He swaps the order of the encore to play ‘Forest Fire’ first in case he can only manage one song. “I don’t like playing anything after this but had better do it first just in case”. He carries it beautifully before closing out with “Lost Weekend” and the audience rises to give him a richly deserved standing ovation.  A really tough gig for him to perform but he carried it wonderfully. A deeply loved songwriting legend, obviously feeling ill, he richly deserved that standing ovation.

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Lloyd Cole / Photo – @cdrimagery

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Check out Colin Reid’s (@cdrimagery) full gallery of this event HERE

Check out Dan Turner’s (@dapperdanphoto) full gallery of the Sydney event HERE

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Follow LLOYD COLE
Website – Facebook – Twitter

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Lloyd Cole / Photo – @cdrimagery

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Press Release 29th November 2023 (below) HERE

Troubadour Touring presents

Lloyd Cole
2023 Australian Tour

Tickets on sale NOW

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AMNPLIFY – DB