Back to Reviews
Zürich, Switzerland: El Internacional, 12-4-98; by Paul Austin (from the Willard Grant Conspiracy) Zürich, Switzerland: El Internacional, 12-4-98; by Biagio Borzaro (written in French; with English translation also by M. Borzaro) It always feels fortunate enough to get the opportunity to see one of your favorites play live. But this was an incredible opportunity - to see a favorite play ten shows in a row, in settings as varied as a monstrous medieval church with several hundred fans in the (actual) pews in Berlin; to a makeshift stage for what seemed tons of C&C friends in Holzminden (Glitterhouse was only a few kilometers away...); to a tradition-steeped whiskey bar in Ingolstadt with lit candles on every table.
If I had to pick a favorite I'd choose the Zurich show. Driving into Zurich the day before the show, the city seemed quiet. And on the day of the show it was beyond quiet - it was Easter weekend, and everything was shut down. The show was to take place at a small bar called El Internacional, and a quick jaunt over to check it out the previous night had shown it to be a small, funky hideaway with bizarre furnishings, a colorful clientele, and a swashbuckling proprietor named Viktor who brews his own beer, but only on nights when the moon is full. It's darn tasty, and called - yep - "Full Moon Bier".
Up until this point there had always been a few large Chris and Carla "Swinger 500" posters on walls and signposts near venues (a welcome beacon for hapless drivers trying to find the gig). In Zurich there didn't seem to be any at all, and Viktor filled us in why - it was against the law to hold a concert on Easter. Not to worry, he chortled to us - word would spread regardless. The show was scheduled for an early start - 6 pm - and sure enough, people started milling in around five. And then streaming in. And well before the music began the place was packed to the gills and folks were being turned away at the door.
After some shows in large theaters where the venue itself seemed to encourage only polite applause, this was a glorious sweatbox, everyone standing shoulder to shoulder and the patrons in front a few perilous feet away from swinging guitar necks (one near casualty - an overeager photographer leaning a little too far forward almost got decked by Chris during a cover of "Snake Mountain Blues", as he had his eyes firmly shut while squeezing out frenetic lead lines over Carla's acoustic rhythm).
For all the raucous energy of those moments, Chris and Carla still managed to hush the joint completely with numbers like "New Love Ends", "Good News First" and a drop-dead beautiful rendition of Morrissey's "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" that might even bring the Mozzer himself a bit further down the spiral. Highlights for the crowd? A rolling, sexy Waits-ish romp through the new disc's title cut, and Walkabouts chestnuts like "Jack Candy".
"Full Moon Bier", Chris and Carla and the wonderfully surreal atmosphere of El Internacional... so how was your Easter?
Avec des amis de Lausanne en Suisse française, nous avons pris la route pour nous rendre au concert.
En Suisse, il y a des frontières linguistiques, on ne parle pas partout la même langue.
Après avoir avalé beaucoup de poussière pour localiser ce charmant petit bar, un peu bohème, qu'est El Internacional, nous nous sommes retrouvés à nous désaltérer assis à une table à quelques cm de la scène, où les Willard Grant Conspiracy effectuaient un soundcheck.
A notre grande surprise, Chris + Carla sont arrivés dans la salle. Ils étaient là en chair et en os. Ils ont discuté à gauche et à droite. Le moment le plus surréaliste, a été de voir manger Chris + Carla assis sur la scène à quelques pas de notre table.
Mais il n'est daigné regarder dans l'assiette de son voisin... Notre table avec d'autres, ont été finalement placées horizontalement à la scène, pour poser verres et bouteilles des premiers rangs de spectateurs. Le concert a débuté par une révélation: les Willard Grant Conspiracy qui ont joué environ 30 minutes, accompagnés par moments par Chris + Carla. Puis tout s'est enchaîné très vite, Chris + Carla sont apparus seuls sur scène et les notes de "Stopping-off Place" en version acoustique ont retenti. Ils ont joué environ 2 heures, rejoints par les Willard Grant Conspiracy lors du dernier rappel.
Ce fut excellent concert intimiste, mais deux-trois chansons plus sauvage dans la veine de "Snake Mountain Blues", lui auraient donné un majeur relief.
Nous sommes repartis la tête rêveuse, remplie de mélodies magiques, qui nous ont transportées par-dessus la poussière sur la route de retour.
Merci.
Au revoir et à la prochaine, peut-être de l'autre coté de la frontière ?
April the 12th, Chris + Carla performed live at El Internacional in Zurich (German Switzerland).
With some friends from Lausanne (French Switzerland) we took the road straight to Zurich.
In Switzerland there are linguistic frontiers: we don't talk the same language everywhere.
After we swallowed a lot of dust to locate El Internacional, that lovely little unconventional bar, we ended up there quenching our thirst, sitting at a table just a few inches away from the stage where the Willard Grant Conspiracy were carrying out a soundcheck.
We were amazed to see Chris + Carla arriving in the room. They were standing there in flesh and bones. Then they were walking around, talking to people. The most surreal moment was seeing Chris + Carla sitting eating on the stage just a few steps from our table. However, you shouldn't deign to look at someone else's plate...
Other tables and even ours were finally placed horizontally in front of the stage, in order to put glasses and bottles of the first row of the members of the audience.
The concert started with a revelation: the Willard Grant Conspiracy, who played for about 30 minutes, accompanied at times by Chris + Carla.
Then everything carried on quickly. Chris + Carla appeared alone and the "Stopping Off Place" rang out in an acoustic version. They played for about 2 hours, joined by the Willard Grant Conspiracy during the last curtain call.
It was a great intimate concert, but somehow two or three "wilder" songs like "Snake Mountain Blues" would have brought out much more.
We set off again, our heads dreamy, filled up with magic melodies that carried on away over the dust of the road on the way back.
Thanks.
See you, maybe on the other side of the frontier ?
We came to the place thinking that this was just a C&C concert, but it was more like a double concert with the Norwegian band Midnight Choir. They played 8 songs each, for a total time of 96 minutes. GREAT! There were a few problems with the PA, making it more like an unofficial jam session, but I liked it. As Chris said ironically: "We have been practicing for weeks".
Gamla is like a big pub, but very small for concerts. However, that made it very personal. "Black Rope Tied" was probably my favorite song of the concert-- Carla has such a wonderful voice, it's magic.
I had never heard Midnight Choir before, but they surprised me. You can definitely hear Chris's influence in their music, as a result of producing their albums. Also, one more highlight was Chris playing long electric guitar solos (it reminded me of Neil Young). I hope to see them again soon.
They played mostly from the new 'Swinger 500' album, but included a lot of old ones, too. My favourites were Satisfied Mind, Snake Mountain Blues, Velvet Fog and Black Rope Tied. They were truly great people and they delivered a show I'll never forget.
Blaarock Cafe is a great place (the world's best burgers, over a hundred types of beer, etc.), but it is not built for concerts: three small floors filled with tables, loadsa stairs and no stage! This didn't seem to bother Chris & Carla, though. They had their gear rigged in a corner, and managed to give a brilliant performance on about 2 square metres. Personally, I was stuck a floor above with almost no view, due to a large pillar and some fat geezer on the stairs, but it didn't really matter. C&C are not the most visual of bands anyway.
But back to the music: They kicked off with 'Good News First' (I think). A bit of trouble with the technical equipment in the beginning just added to the relaxed atmosphere. Chris was joking with the audience (sitting about a foot away), telling stories and really seemed to enjoy himself. I think the set list was pretty similar to the one in Copenhagen, but due to my dismal knowledge of the songs I can't be sure. A version of a Midnight Choir song grabbed the biggest pre-song cheer of the evening. They closed after about two hours with 'Famous Last Words' from the new album, after being clapped back on stage three times.
Instead of going straight to the dressing room, they stayed in the bar, selling CDs and t-shirts and generally chatting with everybody. The fact that when my girlfriend and I left, half an hour after the show,
with a signed CD and an elevated state of mind (also due to a little too much beer) the northern lights covered the sky just underlined the fact that this was a truly magical evening. I only hope that the band keeps their promise to return soon...
They all started with a lovely acoustic version of "The Stopping Off Place" - for Townes van Zandt. As they played each other's songs, they were sometimes reading the chords/tabs from a book. One could hear that they could not always play each other's songs in their entirety, but having the whole band playing with Chris & Carla created an even more spontaneous feeling that brought most of the songs a new dimension.
They played maybe too many melancholy songs for some of the crowd, but they did some really good rocking versions in the encore. It was especially funny to hear Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" done in a Velvet Underground style.
In my opinion Midnight Choir should have toured with Chris and Carla in the rest of Europe, too. Europe could have deserved that.....
"Some songwriters paint with darker colors than others. I don't know why, but I've always liked melancholy songs, although I'm not a depressed person."
"'Swinger 500' is dedicated to the organ and its many cousins. It means that it has less guitar than before. It's nice to get away from the guitarist status that I have in the Walkabouts."
"Swinger 500 is named after an early 70's organ, a phenomenal example of kitsch, with bad wood, green and orange 'knobs', and a built-in rhythm box. My aunt had one in the living-room, like many other Americans in the 70's. Carla and I discovered one in a used-instrument store - played a bit on it - and now we own it. The rhythm box has a very cool analog sound."
"I love country music, and also especially good collisions of styles. Therefore, we use strange synthsesizers and drum loops, steel guitars and so on. Even if most of me is placed in the American singer/songwriter traditions - mostly like Townes van Zandt - I also listen to some newer things, like Tricky."
Discussing the temporary Walkabouts hiatus:
"Every second year we used to take a break. It's good for all of us to do something else for awhile."
Something old (Life Full of Holes), something new (Swinger 500), something borrowed (covers) and something blue (... winter snow).
| Song | Album | Song by | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Stopping-off Place | Devil's Road | Chris Eckman |
| 2. | Take Me | Life Full of Holes | George Jones |
| 3. | Electric Wire | Swinger 500 | Chris Eckman |
| 4. | The Good News First | Swinger 500 | Chris Eckman |
| 5. | Life Full of Holes | Life Full of Holes | Tyes Abelhaq, Chris Eckman & Carla Torgerson |
| 6. | The Tower | Life Full of Holes | Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck & Chris Eckman |
| 7. | Swinger 500 | Swinger 500 | Chris Eckman |
| 8. | Jack Candy | New West Motel | The Walkabouts (lyrics Chris Eckman) |
| 9. | Black Rope Tied | Swinger 500 | Chris Eckman |
| 10. | Blue Winter Snow | Swinger 500 | Chris Eckman |
| 11. | Velvet Fog | Life Full of Holes | Chris Eckman & Carla Torgerson |
| 12. | The Light Will Stay On | Devil's Road | Chris Eckman |
| 13. | Satisfied Mind | Satisfied Mind | Rhodes & Hayes |
| 14. | Immaculate | Nighttown | Chris Eckman |
| Encore | |||
| a. | There is a Light That Never Goes Out | The Smiths/Morrissey | |
| b. | Runaround | from "Have One" - a Glitterhouse sampler, 1997 | Chris Eckman? |
| c. | Snake Mountain Blues | New West Motel | Townes Van Zandt |
I guess only about a third of the tickets were sold, so there must have been close to 100 people at the concert. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. A bad thing because more people should get to know the great music of Chris & Carla. A good thing because you had plenty of space to enjoy the concert without being pushed around and not being able to see the stage. A crowd this size were also able to be quiet at the crucial moments when the music turned into a whisper. To underline the intimate and cosy atmosphere created by the music there were lit candles on the stage.
The concert took an hour and 40 minutes and was not altogether a run down of all the new songs from Swinger 500. There were a lot of older songs from Life Full of Holes as well as from some Walkabouts albums. You can see from the set list above.
Chris & Carla could at any time only play two instruments so they had to make
use of taped backing music for the new Swinger 500 songs.
On Swinger 500 you hear a trumpet, a cello, a mandolin and several other instruments. Live, all this was substituted by the keyboards and some taped music.
The older songs were mainly played using a combination of two instruments, acoustic and electric guitars and keyboards.
A surprise was the first encore which was a very beautiful version of an old The Smiths (Morrissey) song: There is a Light That Never Goes Out. Hopefully this version will be included in an official bootleg or perhaps a B-side in the future.
My favourites this evening were, in no particular order: Black Rope Tied, Velvet Fog, The Light Will Stay On, Satisfied Mind, There is a Light That Never Goes Out.
Before playing Satisfied Mind Carla pulled out a lyric sheet and confessed that they had to find the lyrics to this song on their website to be sure to remember the lyrics correctly. But they remembered without looking at the lyric sheet.
The sound was generally o.k. but Chris had to struggle with sound problems with one of the mics and a guitar. While this was being fixed, Carla entertained the audience with one of the two jokes she claims she knows.
All in all it was a great concert. Partly because they didn't feel obliged to play all the songs from Swinger 500 in succession. Not that I think less of some of the Swinger 500 songs, but artists should make new compilations and arrangements of their songs when playing live, so the audience can get new experiences, which differs from going home and listening to the CD. Chris & Carla succeeded with this objective. Furthermore, you could feel they enjoyed playing the selected songs.
Carla griff das später auf: "Nun ist es unser Wohnzimmer." In diesen familiären Rahmen kam die unwahrscheinliche Ausstrahlung von Chris und Carla besonders herüber. Was für Augen diese Carla hat. Wow! Auch meine Frau Birgit war von ihr begeistert. Übrigens hatten die Musiker eine siebenstündige Anfahrt von Zürich aus teilweise bei Schneegestöber hinter sich. Chris erschien dies aber sehr passend zu dem Cover von Swinger 500.
Meine Chris & Carla-Favoriten an diesem Abend: The Good News First, New Love Ends, Black Rope Tied, Fear, Swinger 500, Blue Winter Snow. Zum Schluß gab es noch Zugaben, eine sehr hörenswerte zusammen mit der Willard Grant Conspiracy. Es war das letzte gemeinsame Konzert mit der Band aus Boston bei dieser Tournee. Chris versprach aber, daß es nicht das letzte Zusammenspiel mit Willard Grant Conspiracy war.
Viele Grüße von Andreas Schmidt aus Friedberg bei Augsburg
Back to Reviews