Graham Parker at Brit’s Pub, Minneapolis (12 July 2015)
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09/16/15 Napa, CA City Winery Napa
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Though I’m not sure how the tradition began, the legendary UK rocker has been coming to the pub in the heart of downtown Minneapolis for well over a decade, to play a loose acoustic set of favorites, deep cuts, and even debut some new songs, once in a while.
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Graham Parker
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Probably as much of a favor to pub host emeritus Freddie Manton (who not so coincidentally celebrates his birthday around the same time), Parker self-describes the outdoor event on the bowling lawn as “best gig of the year” and clearly has fun.
Parker started this year’s set with 2007’s ‘I Discovered America’ before dialing things back thirty years for 1977’s ‘Watch the Moon Come Down’. On a warm and windy afternoon, Parker confessed, “I know I was here two years ago (he missed appearing last year due to touring with the reformed Rumour) and I wore the same shirt”. “I look in the closet and see the brightest thing and say I’ll take that”, he said laughingly.
Fans of his classic mid to late ‘70s work were well rewarded, the era when Parker was coming up to acclaim alongside the likes of Elvis Costello, The Jam, and Joe Jackson, but he also touched on the more recent work, including from the newest album with The Rumour, Mystery Glue (on UMe) including acoustic versions of ‘Pub Crawl’(a song played first at Brit’s) and ’My Life in Movieland’.
“No, I won’t!” mentioning advice from others to take a couple kazoo songs out of the repertoire as Parker wedged the small instrument in between the harmonica on his neck harness. With ‘Devil’s Sidewalk’ Parker then traded the acoustic guitar for the electric, as the wind continued to blow and rain threatened, though never came.
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Setlist
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Parker explained the metaphors before going into 2007’s ‘Suspension Bridge’, then went from the road to behind the wheel for the ‘80s song ‘Black Lincoln Continental’, originally performed with former band, The Shot.
With the weather turning and time running short, a few end songs from the setlist weren’t played, but Parker did come back for a one-song encore of his early signature song, 1976’s ‘Don’t Ask Me Questions’.
As to why a post-punk UK legend is playing an annual free Bastille Day show on the grassy rooftop of a downtown pub, I won’t ask questions and will just enjoy the music and maybe another cold pint.
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Graham Parker at Brit’s Pub, Minneapolis (12 July 2015) |