10cc, Skycity Theatre, 10 March 2020: Concert Review

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Wowsers! What a night! For all the nay-sayers who claim the current iteration of 10cc aren’t the ‘real deal’ because Graham Gouldman is the only original member… Phooey! Caitlin Smith was there – and here’s her review!The evening was the finest musical banquet from start to finish.

A pre-gig Google informed me that the original quartet of polymath epic songwriters split in 1976 as Kevin Godley and Lol Crème went onto enjoy success as video-makers, producers and as a hugely successful duo in the 80s (remember that game-changing face-morphing video for Cry in 1985?)… That Gouldman and Stewart continued with their own flavour of co-writing, and that this band had hits coming out the wahzoo!!

Tonight Gouldman (guitar/bass/vox), Paul Burgess (drums), Rick Fenn (lead guitar/bass/vox), Keith Hayman (keyboards/bass/guitar/vox) and Iain Hornal (vox/guitar/bass/percussion/keys/mandolin) showed that they are a force to be reckoned with and delivered a spectacular show.

From its inception in the early 70s, 10cc were a musical cut-above most other bands: all four members were hit songwriters in their own right AND virtuosic multi-instrumentalists. Gouldman wrote For Your Love for The Yardbirds, No Milk Today for Herman’s Hermits and Bus Stop for The Hollies. OG guitarist Eric Stewart wrote A Groovy Kind of Love and The Game of Love. Gouldman and Stewart wrote as a duo and Godley and Crème co-wrote together with a more art-school/art-wock/progressive bent.

A rare co-write between Godley and Gouldman (as GG–06) Son of Man played over the PA as an introduction to their 16 song performance before any personnel had come onstage. 10 guitars (including basses) and a mandolin were lined up on-stage like chorus girls (if chorus girls had accompanying Fender amps, noodle-bowls of cables and effects pedals). As soon as they hit the stage with The Wall Street Shuffle, 10cc’s pitch-perfect 4- part harmonies, ambidexterity and quirk had audience members awestruck (I heard a man behind me repeatedly say “Wow!” and to be honest, so was I.)

You could hear the comparisons to Steely Dan, Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa. The songs very often modulated into several different key-centres, had tempo feel and time-signature changes, crunchy chords and arrangements that were musical and playful but never intellectual or deliberately showing off.

Gouldman on bass goes to lead guitar, Keith on keys then gets on bass. The youngling of the band, who’s only been touring with them for three years is Iain Hornal… Daaaayum! He sings with an effortless falsetto, plays keys, percussion, guitar mandolin and bass. Apart from a Gandalf-like Paul Burgess holding it down on drums, the rest of the band were continuously swapping instruments like a swinging 70’s key-party AND  simultaneously singing superbly.

Aside from the many hits: Art for Art’s Sake, Dreadlock Holiday and The Things you do for Love, there were super-quirky numbers like the Godley and Crème co-write Clockwork Creep written as a dialogue between an airplane and a bomb.

It was during I’m not in Love that I experienced several epiphanies. It was during the song’s sample “Be quiet, big boys don’t cry” that I realized 10cc are the antithesis of toxic masculinity. There’s no posturing or ego-centricity. There is only the joy and mutual respect that comes from true musical mastery. This was evidenced during Rubber Bullets where Fenn and Hayman were trading fours jazz styles. It brought home to me the egalitarian nature of great musicians and songwriters of 10cc’s calibre. I seriously can’t think of any better practitioners in the field. If you have the chance, you must see 10cc.

~Caitlin Smith

Setlist

  1. The Wall Street Shuffle (from Sheet Music 1974)
  2. Art for Art’s Sake (from How Dare You 1976)
  3. Life is a Minestrone (from The Original Soundtrack 1975)
  4. Good Morning Judge (from Deceptive Bends 1977)
  5. The Dean and I (from 10cc 1973)
  6. Clockwork Creep (from Sheet Music 1974)
  7. Feel the Benefit (from Deceptive Bends 1977)
  8. The Things We Do for Love (from Deceptive Bends 1977)
  9. Say the Word (from The Game Begins with the Lights Out – Iain Hornal)
  10. Silly Love (from Sheet Music 1974)
  11. Rochdale to Ocho Rios (from Bloody Tourists 1978)
  12. I’m Mandy, Fly Me (from How Dare You 1976)
  13. I’m Not in Love               (from The Original Soundtrack 1975)
  14. Dreadlock Holiday (from Bloody Tourists 1978)
  15. Donna (from 10cc 1973)
  16. Rubber Bullets (from 10cc 1973)
Caitlin Smith
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