Patrick Wolf Bloomsbury Ballroom, London 7/12/10
4/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
Patrick Wolf has had more than the odd calamity when devising new personas, lest we forget the long haired, onesie sporting Britney Spears-esque farce of 2009’s Reading and Leeds performances. He really does enjoy a re-invention, maybe to cultivate ideas that he’s “the new Bowie”, an idea he is, we’re sure, very eager for people to adopt.
His new materialisation is really quite wonderful though, as at the Bloomsbury Ballroom we’re presented with a very adult, very sober figure, wearing the dandiest of suits and composing himself with a diffidence we’ve not seen since his Wind in the Wires days.
‘Bluebells’ opened the show, which for the first half felt very reserved. New material, highlighted by the feisty ‘The City’, broke the atmosphere, leading a second half rammed with huge melodies, strings and gaudy enthusiasm. If ‘The City’ is a sign of how his new album is coming along, we can expect nothing less than a camp Bruce Springsteen record from Wolf in the New Year.
‘Tristan’ and latest single ‘Time Of My Life’ were well received, the latter closing the show with all the pantomime and theatrics one has come to appreciate, the absurdity of it all both bewildering and uplifting.
Patrick Wolf has a charm about him, something silly and inviting, warming and charismatic. There’s something about him which is fascinating still, perhaps more so than ever. His new material has the pop majesty of The Magic Position with a darker edge, a sideward Lycanthropy smile. He continues to meddle with his sound, and this is all rather awesome again.
Artists in this article: Patrick Wolf
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