Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets – Powerstation February 25, 2020

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Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets rocked the Powerstation last night. Marty Duda was on hand and files this review.

At age 70 Nick Lowe seems to have discovered some kind of fountain of youth. No doubt in the form of backing band Los Straitjackets. 

Last time Lowe was in Auckland he performed at the Powerstation playing mostly his then-current crop of  tunes from his The Old Magic album with a sound based on older, tin pan alley style songs.

This time around Lowe has reclaimed his rock & roll cred thanks to 4-piece rockers Los Straitjackets. The quartet is known to mix rockabilly, surf and r&b into their own recordings and they injected plenty of those vintage sounds into Lowe’s tunes.

The set began with So It Goes from Nick’s 1978 debut album, Jesus Of Cool. It sounded a bit more restrained than the recorded version I remember… perhaps Lowe and the band were just getting warmed up.

It didn’t take them long to hit their stride as they dove into a twangy Without Love, then getting to the rock-a-billy groove of Shting Shtang. That one was loads of fun.

After Tokyo Bay, Lowe left the stage and Los Straitjackets took over for a brief set of instrumental surf-rockers that threatened to bring the house down including an excellent version of Shocking Blue’s Venus.

After an extended Itchy Chicken, which gave the band plenty of space to stretch out, Lowe returned with Breaking Glass and Half A Boy And Half A Man.

Eventually they got to “the hits” Cruel To Be Kind, Heart Of The City and I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock & Roll).

The encore included another surf instrumental (kudos to guitarists Eddie Angel and Greg Townson), then finally wrapping with When I Write The Book and (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love And Understanding.

An excellent show from beginning to end…a shame there wasn’t a bigger crowd, but those of us who were there had a ball.

Marty Duda

Nick Lowe setlist:

  1. So It Goes
  2. Raging Eyes
  3. Without Love
  4. You Inspire Me
  5. Shting Shtang
  6. Raincoat In The River
  7. Somebody Cares For Me
  8. Tokyo Bay
  9. Kawanga
  10. Wrong Way Inn
  11. Venus
  12. Driving Guitars
  13. Itchy Chicken
  14. I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
  15. Half A Boy And Half A Man
  16. Love Starvation
  17. Lay It On Me Baby
  18. Waiting
  19. Blue On Blue
  20. Feeling Again
  21. Cruel To Be Kind
  22. Heart Of The City
  23. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock & Roll)
  24. Charge Key
  25. When I Write The Book
  26. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding
Marty Duda
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