After the break up of Girls Christopher Owens went on to release solo album, Lysandre, a good, if a little self-indulgent, short album, with a running length of just under 30 minutes, I was a little concerned at how the gig would go, with such a small back catalogue to perform.
Tonight sees him bringing his material to Glasgow for the first time and Broadcast is as good a venue you could get for this performance in Glasgow; small, with great sound and an understated look, it provides the right surroundings for this very personal, intimate album.
The set up for the band is as intimate as the music itself, with Owens performing mostly seated right at the front of the stage.
It is a little strange that Owens is surrounded by a seven-piece band for such an intimate, small sounding album, but there is still a close connection between the frontman and his audience.
The performance itself is fine, and the band plays the music well, however the length of the gig is somewhat offset by the inclusion of five or six covers, such as ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’ by Dylan, after the album is played through in its entirety, bringing the length of the gig to just under an hour.
Somewhat worrying is that the covers seem to sound better and have more life put into them than the original music itself.
While waiting, perhaps naively, for a few Girls songs, the gig abruptly ends and the band walk off the stage with almost no communication to the audience.
With Girls, Owens had a great stage presence, but in this solo performance there is no communication throughout other than a few mumbled thank yous.
It is understandable that Owens perhaps wants to distance himself from the band that he himself had decided to break up, but the inclusion of a few more songs from his wider back catalogue would have been nice.
The main problem with this gig is that, while pleasant enough, it was predictable, just a play through of the album with no changes whatsoever, and as a result the gig is a bit lifeless.
The album itself is good, but ultimately this gig is unsatisfying and leaves you wanting more from it.
It isn’t necessarily a bad gig, but it is overall an average gig from a usually great performer.
Words: Phil Rodgers
