Soulsec at The
Bedford, London 23/08/06 by Becky
Paul’s first outing since his departure from
the Stranglers was a very low key affair.
Soulsec had been invited to play at an
acoustic event in Balham and, initially,
were going to play only 4 songs. Thanks to a
late cancellation however, they were able to
slip an extra two in for good measure. It
was great to see Paul. He was looking very
relaxed and certainly hasn’t lost any of his
trademark banter with the fans. Although the
venue only held a small number of people, it
was obvious that the bulk had turned up
especially to see Paul & the band perform.
The songs were as follows:
DESERT SOUL – Wonderful when played acoustic,
just like on the CD. 9/10
POSTCARD – As usual, this ‘classic’ was spot
on, and gets better each time its played.
8/10
LADY GRINNING SOUL – Richard was absolutely
awesome on this. I love this live and
thought Pauls vocals were fantastic 9/10
SINISTER – Well, for me, THE highlight of
the night. Paul’s greatest Stranglers moment.
A mammoth of a song, performed here with
absolute precission (and some!) by all the
band. It sounded amazing – and reminded me
of what many of us will miss from all the
forthcoming Stranglers gigs. You could say
it was quite emotional! Quality – and got
the biggest cheer of the night! 11/10
SAD SOFT LULLABY – The new/next single. I
love this track, and if you haven’t heard it,
go listen on the MySpace site. The band
faltered abit with this (obviously having
limited time to rehearse) but covered the
miss-fires well. I think in time, once honed,
this will be stunning live ... 7.5/10
UNDER THE STARS – as with Desert Soul, this
was superb and just like the version on the
CD. This was only marred by the microphone
cutting out on some of the vocals which was
a shame. Nevertheless, a great ending to a
quality set! 8.5/10
I hope we don’t have to wait too long to see
and hear Paul again. I’m guessing we’ll see
more towards the end of the year...
Before Sinister Paul said “This is a song I
wrote for the Stranglers..... I hope they
appreciated it”
Well, we certainly did Paul...... and that’s
what counts
xxx
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