Mark Lanegan Band, The HolySoul @ The Gaelic Club,21/10/04

Sat 23rd Oct, 2004 in Gig Reviews

When Queens of the Stone Age played earlier this year the highlight of their show for me was when the tall, mysterious gravel-voiced ex-Screaming Trees frontman appeared to perform his awesomely dark collaborations with the band. With his impressive sixth solo album Bubblegum attracting significant attention here, his Australian tour was not one to miss.  

Playing to a half full Gaelic club comprised of a slightly older late 20s – early 30s crowd was young Sydney band The Holy Soul. Their style of rock laced with country and blues went down well, and proved a good warm up to Mark. While most of their songs were more of the upbeat, rocking variety, when they slowed it down and went all bluesy for Love Has Left the City Limits they demonstrated impressive range. Though I think they need more experience in order to look and sound more comfortable onstage they played a thoroughly enjoyable set.

So on filed the Mark Lanegan Band, with the man himself adapting his double mic stand grip stance and gorgeous heavily tattooed, white-studded pants and cowboy boots wearing, back up vocalist Sherry Brien taking post next to him. Straight into the first three songs from Bubblegum, starting with the brooding and melancholy When Your Number Isn’t Up. Next was single Hit the City, and while Sherry filled the place of PJ Harvey aptly her vocals could have been louder in this song and throughout the set in general. Next was one of my personal highlights Wedding Dress; the first opportunity guitarists Michael Barragan and Brett Nettson had to show off their mind-blowing abilities. Hearing Mark’s voice in such an intimate venue is hard to describe, needless to say it completely envelops and entrances. That deep deep growl is somehow soothing but menacing at the same time. He has amazing presence, absolutely owning the stage without even moving and possessing more cool and sexiness in one little finger then most entire bands do. He’s the kind of guy that sings with his whole body, in such a way that makes you think the audience is irrelevant to him – he’d be doing the same thing before 10 or 10,000 people.

They went on to perform Field Songs tracks like One Way Street and No Easy Action and older tunes much to the pleasure of many of the hardcore fans in the audience, and the enjoyment of everyone in the room. I wasn’t sure what to expect for this show, and I thought that there would be a lot of quieter, acoustic moments but was pleasantly surprised to find it was consistently electric, dirty and rock. The atmosphere of the band was so powerful it literally transported you away from inner Sydney to a dry, dusty desert and conjured images of cowboy hats, boots and rattlesnakes.

His albums are great, but for me the songs really come alive in live form, with songs like Miracle, Little Willie John and Driving Death Valley Blues that just rocked beyond belief. A downright evil rendition of Methamphetamine Blues and they left the stage briefly, before rejoining us for a couple more. Closing on a twangy note with Brook Benton cover I’ll Take Care of You, he was gone. Just like at the QOTSA concert, with barely a word he entered the stage, belted out his soul and was gone before we knew it. What we had experienced was a genuine rock god, and those are truly few and far between.