Paul Weller at Camden Roundhouse

Paul Weller is playing several nights at the Camden Roundhouse to launch his new album, Sonik Kicks. The Roundhouse is a great venue for live music – even a short-arse like me can usually find somewhere to stand with a good sightline 😉

Paul Weller came on stage dressed resplendent in a smart grey suit, white shirt and pale blue tie. With the rest of his band, including a string section, he rattled through the new album from start to finish. There are some great tracks on there – I particular like “By The Waters” and “That Dangerous Age” is a strong single release. Then, unusually, there was a short interval before Paul and the band returned to the stage for an acoustic set, followed by an electric set.

The second half of the show was more relaxed, both musically and sartorially, Mr Weller dressing down in a short-sleeved dark blue top. The acoustic set was opened with a fabulous rendition of “English Rose”, one of my favourite tracks from the Jam album ‘All Mod Cons’. The electric set was high energy and included old favourites such as “Changing Man” as well as great renditions of both “Wake up the Nation” and “Fast Car/Slow Traffic”. Shortly before 11pm it all came to an end – a little abruptly for some (no encore).

I really enjoyed this gig. It’s been a couple of years since I have seen Paul Weller play live – he just seems to get better and better. We were back to the ‘old Paul’ tonight, very little chat between songs. He put a fluffed start to one of the Sonik Kicks numbers down to ‘first night nerves’ and perhaps he was a little tentative at first. This was a full show though – with very little chat we got about 2 hours of music. Just wish I had a ticket for the next one…