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I wasn’t sure what to expect of Vincent Gallo and now that I’ve sat down to write a review of his show I’m not entirely sure of what to write. I don’t know, maybe it’s because this is my first review, but still this feels diff-i-cult, which is kind of what I should’ve expected, if that makes sense.
Ok. I’ll start off by telling you why I went to this gig (other than to review it). I’m a Big fan of Vincent Gallo, but more a fan of the man himself and his films (Buffalo ’66) rather than his music, purely because I haven’t heard enough of it. Tonight is my chance to correct that.
Vincent Gallo does everything that you want to do. He writes, directs and stars in his own films, he models, he paints, he writes and of course he makes music. Even at this show he’s handmade and signed 50 ltd. Edition T-shirts which are being sold for £70 each. Ouch. By merely glancing at Gallo’s C.V. its clear he’s pretty self indulgent but has it cost him? Has he spread himself too thin?
He strolls onto the stage and he looks cool. And he’s got Steve Shelley and Jim O’Rourke as his backing band which is again cool. Without a word the music starts and its ok… that was a bit shaky but we’ll give him a minute… no, it’s no good, this is bad, awful. The songs are bad, none of the band knows when they’re supposed to stop playing and Gallo’s vocals are embarrassingly out of tune (people are sniggering), which normally wouldn’t bother me but tonight it does. Maybe it’s because I had high expectations of the night, and there are some good bits, but still it doesn’t feel like he’s making the effort or cut out for this. There’s no between song banter to appease the crowd, no sharp wit, just a crap song followed by another crap song. And the whole audience is morons and they clap and eat his shit like it was a bowl of chocolate ice cream which is pissing me off even more than this sham of a show that I’ve paid £25 to see.
After new song “You Sure Are”, the biggest insult of the night, he actually talks to audience for the first time (aside from band introductions a song earlier) when he apologises for the previous song and all the mistakes they’ve made tonight, which again the audience applaud, and tells us we can cheer ourselves up with a £70 t-shirt after the show. And then he really starts to talk and it’s great, he’s funny and charming and cool and I can’t help but think how much better this would’ve been if he’s come out to do a spoken word show à la Henry Rollins.
But nevermind, here we are, last song of the set, which he was going to do with his friends PJ Harvey and John Frusciante (audience applause) but they weren’t paying any attention to him in rehearsal (audience laughs) so he’s going to do it on his own. Oh fuck it, he invites them on stage anyway and, damn, whaddya know? PJ Harvey is running down the steps through the audience to the stage and so does John Frusciante and they play a cover of “Moon River” and its pretty good, definitely the best thing of the night. And even if it’s not great it’s a nice treat and everyone goes ape shit and that’s it. No encore.
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