Eels, Barbican Hall - music review

Eels leader Mark “E” Everett was whipsmart, wry to his eye teeth, overflowing with songs, and toasty warm
Well drilled: Mark “E” Everett and his besuited sidekicks (Pic: Valerio Berdini/REX)
Valerio Berdini/REX
John Aizlewood31 July 2014

Yesterday was a good day for Eels leader Mark “E” Everett. In the afternoon, he followed Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela, Florence Nightingale and assorted luminaries over the last nine centuries in becoming a Freeman of the City of London after being nominated by two senior officers of the City of London Corporation.

In the evening, Everett played his first concert in the Square Mile. “I was told my freedom came via Her Majesty The Queen’s direct order,” the Virginian quipped, holding his certificate aloft. “It’s no surprise she’s an Eels fan. Now I can do exactly what I want!”

Everett’s four besuited sidekicks resembled a hotel lobby band but they were supremely well-drilled. The first half brimmed with “super-soft, sad bummer rock” and Everett was everything you’d want from a frontman. Mournful rather than maudlin, he broke hearts like a less grizzled Tom Waits on Parallels and a slowed-down Daisies of the Galaxy, but his When You Wish Upon A Star was veiled threat rather than gentle lullaby.

Suddenly, Everett asked “are you bummed out enough?”. Without breaking stride, he unleashed the hitherto under-deployed timpani and tubular bells and switched to jaunty carousing mode on Fresh Feeling and the tambourine-crazed I Like Birds.

Rather than waiting to be summoned for an encore, Everett hurtled into the crowd, dispensing full-body hugs like the king of cuddles, before re-emerging with lugubrious but celebratory versions of The Hollies’s Jennifer Eccles and Harry Nilsson’s Turn on Your Radio.

Whipsmart, wry to his eye teeth, overflowing with songs, and toasty warm — if anyone deserves the City of London Freeman’s right to carry an unsheathed sword in public, it is Mark Everett. He is truly one of us.

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