NME, March 18, 1995
by Stuart Bailie
Submitted by Sai
"Get yer kit orf, Jeff!" a fan hollers.
The request is so shrill that it could belong to either a boy or girl-the gay element is both sizeable and appreciative, and besotted girls are everywhere tonight.
Whatever, Jeff smiles back, causing a fresh outbreak of wowings, dirty propositions and laughter. Jeff and his ever touring band are fatigued, but that's no matter. All of the other perceived problems don't amount to much either. The hush-hushing of reverential fans is a mite silly but the world-weary style of the singer's recent interviews hasn't transmitted to the stage. Jeff's no prima donna tonight. Sometimes he's just like your best mate, occasionally he just plays the tease...
He knows that when he asks for a ciggie, the audience will pelt him with Silk Cuts, books of matches, and home phone numbers. So that's what he does. And he's aware of the theatre he evokes when he peels off his shirt, exposing those corpse-white shoulders-never mind the line where he dedicates "Hallelujah" to all the boys in the audience, the sly flirt.
But it's essentially great-far better than the over-precious Buckley vibe of old. Not every song this evening will close with an immoderate, ecstatic pay-off, but that's alright. At worst, his vocal problems turn the intro of "Lilac Wine" into a tight, atonal exercise. It also means that when raptures do manage to break through, a song like "Lover, You Should've Come Over" becomes properly awash with desire, word-whirls and high-swooning utterances.
Chris from Fishbone staggers onstage and burbles drunkenly about Jeff's "gift", but the singer isn't massively peeved. Not even when his new song "What Will You Say" becomes trammelled by this squiffy, tuneless quest. Jeff just rolls his eyes, shoulders Chris offside and voices the kind of mercurial riff that his buddy can only dream about.
So even when he's beat and getting bored (and may his his business advisors see fit to give him a decent break soon), Jeff Buckley is a remarkable act. Whenever he's rested, loaded up with fresh tunes and in the good humour we've witnessed tonight, he'll seduce just about everybody.
by Stuart Bailie
Submitted by Sai
"Get yer kit orf, Jeff!" a fan hollers.
The request is so shrill that it could belong to either a boy or girl-the gay element is both sizeable and appreciative, and besotted girls are everywhere tonight.
Whatever, Jeff smiles back, causing a fresh outbreak of wowings, dirty propositions and laughter. Jeff and his ever touring band are fatigued, but that's no matter. All of the other perceived problems don't amount to much either. The hush-hushing of reverential fans is a mite silly but the world-weary style of the singer's recent interviews hasn't transmitted to the stage. Jeff's no prima donna tonight. Sometimes he's just like your best mate, occasionally he just plays the tease...
He knows that when he asks for a ciggie, the audience will pelt him with Silk Cuts, books of matches, and home phone numbers. So that's what he does. And he's aware of the theatre he evokes when he peels off his shirt, exposing those corpse-white shoulders-never mind the line where he dedicates "Hallelujah" to all the boys in the audience, the sly flirt.
But it's essentially great-far better than the over-precious Buckley vibe of old. Not every song this evening will close with an immoderate, ecstatic pay-off, but that's alright. At worst, his vocal problems turn the intro of "Lilac Wine" into a tight, atonal exercise. It also means that when raptures do manage to break through, a song like "Lover, You Should've Come Over" becomes properly awash with desire, word-whirls and high-swooning utterances.
Chris from Fishbone staggers onstage and burbles drunkenly about Jeff's "gift", but the singer isn't massively peeved. Not even when his new song "What Will You Say" becomes trammelled by this squiffy, tuneless quest. Jeff just rolls his eyes, shoulders Chris offside and voices the kind of mercurial riff that his buddy can only dream about.
So even when he's beat and getting bored (and may his his business advisors see fit to give him a decent break soon), Jeff Buckley is a remarkable act. Whenever he's rested, loaded up with fresh tunes and in the good humour we've witnessed tonight, he'll seduce just about everybody.
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