Nixon was the break through album for Lambchop. It was released back in 2,000 to much acclaim and served as the introduction for many to the Nashville outfit, and is still the high point of their career. Lyrics like ‘The guy on the cross. Is holier than I, But then again he’s made from plastic’ contain enough wit and charm to keep you coming back. The anthemic ‘Up with people’ became the song the band were known by. Nixon was actually Lambchop’s 5th album, so there was already a rich back catalogue to explore, while waiting for their next release. Now back to 2015, some six albums later, the news of the Nixon tour was greeted with much excitement as it’s an album that has a warm place in the hearts of many.

The night started with Adrian Crowley as the support act. It was a nice treat to get an established artist as the support, and he played with the unusual arrangement of guitar/ piano with twin Cello as back up. The band was later joined by Katie Kim on backing vocals. It was a short sample of songs from his new and 7th album ‘Some Blue Morning’. It was an impressive set with highlights including ‘the Magpie song’ (the tale of a possessed bird) and the title track ‘Some Blue Morning’.

Lambchop were a seven piece on the night, with guitars, drums, piano, and occasional saxophone and trumpet. They came on stage a little after 9 to some teething problems. On the first few tracks, Kurt’s vocals were buried in the mix and his guitar lost altogether. One member of the audience shouted up ‘The sound is awful’, to which Kurt’s reply was ‘Wait till you hear the jokes!’. Thankfully, knobs were twisted and the sound improved.

They played Nixon in its entirety, slightly out of order and with the some variation to the arrangement. While the album did live up to the old memories, the new arrangements of songs did not always work and some of the tracks lacked the impact of their recorded version. There was little banter between songs and the band surged through the set list. It was slightly unusual, as generally you get a variety of bad jokes from pianist Tony Crow, but for whatever reason the focus was on the music alone, with little interaction with the audience. When Nixon was complete, there was a sense of relief from the band and they were in friendlier form for the remainder of the evening. There were three non Nixon songs before the final track of the evening, an impressive cover version of David Bowie’s Young Americans.

Set List –

The Old Gold Shoe
Grumpus
You Masculine You
Up With People
Nashville Parent
What Else Could It Be?
The Distance From Her to There
The Book I Haven’t Read
The Petrified Florist
The Butcher Boy (alternative version)
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Give Me Your Love (Curtis Mayfield cover)
My Face Your Ass
We Never Argue
Gone Tomorrow
Encore 2:
Young Americans