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Concert reviews Music

Richard Ashcroft solo with verve

WHEN/WHERE

RICHARD ASHCROFT, at Ted’s Wrecking Yard, May 18. Tickets: free. Attendance: 200. Rating: NNNN


Richard Ashcroft cuts a pretty formidable rock-star pose.With sunglasses welded to his face, and only occasionally threatening to crack a smile, the rail-thin former singer of the Verve was utterly unflappable during his hush-hush six-song mini-set at Ted’s Wrecking Yard Thursday, even improvising a few lines when his guitar cut out midway through Bitter Sweet Symphony.

You’d never know it was his first gig since breaking up the Verve after playing for 80,000 people in 1998. “It feels good,” Ashcroft murmured between songs. “It’s better.”

In town promoting his forthcoming solo album, Alone With Everybody, and with wife Kate Radley watching from the side of the stage, Ashcroft stuck with new material, alternating between acoustic and electric guitars for the stripped-down 30-minute set.

Considering how epic the production on the new album is, a quaint folksy turn might seem like a mistake until you remember that the Verve’s most engaging live moments occurred when Ashcroft dispensed with the bluster and sang solo.

The man’s got a knack for soaring pop songs. Even without their multimillion-dollar mixes, new tracks like A Song For The Lovers and the swaggering I Get My Beat still sounded intense strummed out on a 12-string guitar, while an electric jangle through On A Beach was delightfully abrasive.

A polite thanks and then it was, whoosh, out the door and into the waiting limo. The typically boisterous Toronto industry crowd was stunned silent.

Richard Ashcroft cuts a pretty formidable rock-star pose. With sunglasses welded to his face, and only occasionally threatening to crack a smile, the rail-thin former singer of the Verve was utterly unflappable during his hush-hush six-song mini-set at Ted’s Wrecking Yard Thursday, even improvising a few lines when his guitar cut out midway through Bitter Sweet Symphony.

You’d never know it was his first gig since breaking up the Verve after playing for 80,000 people in 1998. “It feels good,” Ashcroft murmured between songs. “It’s better.”

In town promoting his forthcoming solo album, Alone With Everybody, and with wife Kate Radley watching from the side of the stage, Ashcroft stuck with new material, alternating between acoustic and electric guitars for the stripped-down 30-minute set.

Considering how epic the production on the new album is, a quaint folksy turn might seem like a mistake until you remember that the Verve’s most engaging live moments occurred when Ashcroft dispensed with the bluster and sang solo.

The man’s got a knack for soaring pop songs. Even without their multimillion-dollar mixes, new tracks like A Song For The Lovers and the swaggering I Get My Beat still sounded intense strummed out on a 12-string guitar, while an electric jangle through On A Beach was delightfully abrasive.

A polite thanks and then it was, whoosh, out the door and into the waiting limo. The typically boisterous Toronto industry crowd was stunned silent.

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