He was just stopping by to pay a social call, Nick Lowe casually informed a sold-out crowd at Manhattan’s City Winery Tuesday night. Having crossed the pond mainly for a couple of West Coast events (the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the annual Austin DeLone benefit in San Francisco), he was just popping in en route to visit his "favorite city in the world,” a showbiz lie we conceited New Yorkers were happy enough to believe.
Well, then, it would be churlish to review a “social call” as if it were an actual concert. Best just to sit back, sip a glass of Chablis (the City Winery takes the “winery” part of its name quite seriously), and groove on the mellow country-soul stylings that have lately become this veteran British singer-songwriter’s musical stock in trade.
But while Nick Lowe’s hair may now be short-cropped and silver — while his sartorial style has shifted to a crisp white shirt and dark trousers (quite a change from the outré fashions on 1979’s Jesus of Cool cover) — the beast in Nick Lowe isn’t really tamed, just gone underground. Witness the mock rueful “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide,” or songs like “All Men Are Liars” or “I Trained Her to Love Me,” two sharp little tongue-in-cheek commentaries on the battle of the sexes that elicited a wave of chuckling from the audience.
At sixty years old, Nick Lowe hasn’t really slowed down, he’s just reached a zen state that prizes economy of effort over frenzied motion. Armed with just an acoustic guitar (until opening act Bill Kirchen slipped on stage to add a buzz of his Telecaster to “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)," Lowe seemed content to croon, but there was always a waspish glint in his eye.
Unfortunately, the City Winery crowd took him at face value. Folks were way too sedate. When a few of us enthusiasts dared to sing along on the chorus of “Cruel to Be Kind,” horrified shushes came our way. Not sing along on “Cruel to Be Kind”? No way! That catchy little number was BORN to be sung along to, preferably in the backseat of a speeding car with all the windows cranked down.
But no, the crowd seemed more primed for Lowe’s wistful ballads like “People Change,” “Long-Limbed Girl,” “Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day,” and the unreleased “I Read A Lot.” Even an old Rockpile song like “Heart” was re-imagined as a loping stroll. Lowe’s trademark song "(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” came out as a gentle meditation, rather than the up-tempo anthem of Elvis Costello’s original recording. And Lowe wound up his set with a pensive “The Beast in Me,” a song written for Lowe’s former stepfather-in-law Johnny Cash. No kick-ass finales here.
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