Dulli & Lanegan at the Union Chapel

 

An Evening With Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan

Union Chapel, 19 January 2009

Anyone who knows me can tell you I have a long time love affair with Mr Dulli, the dashing larger than life (literally these days) former frontman of The Afghan Whigs, current Twilight Singer and one half of The Gutter Twins. He was once described as "the Dean Martin of grunge" but Greg is way more sassy than that, unafraid to cut down hecklers with a single witty line and shake his booty, funky-style, that's part Prince, part embarrassing dad at a wedding. The collaboration with his best pal Lanegan has been a long time coming, and certainly worth the wait on record, but live so far the results have been mixed due to Lanegan's towering, silent stage presence that prefers to let his booming voice make up for the lack of any charismatic chats or interaction with the audience.
And there's no doubt it's worked for Lanegan so far because that voice is just so awe-inspiringly breathtaking to witness in the flesh. But in the case of The Gutter Twins, it's seen Dulli respectfully tone his playful, over-the-top side down so not to overshadow his stoic partner in crime. So less funny stories, less funky moves, less getting-down-on-his-knees at the height of soulful passion mid-song. Maybe it serves the songs better, but for Dulli fanatics it's a little disappointing.

Therefore the prospect of an acoustic show where the songs are stripped down and there's no promise of sweaty Dulli theatrics from the start seems a good fit and what a perfect venue for this more restrained, music-focused performance than Islington's stunning Union Chapel (which is one of the best venues in London for an acoustic show these days). When a well-wrapped up Dulli walks on stage, followed by a raggy looking Lanegan and Twilight Singers guitarist Dave Rosser, it's fair to say he looks like he's had a good Christmas and is noticeably bigger than the last time the Twins played in London. "We thought about having the show outside," Dulli quips, referring to the freezing temperature in London that night, "it might have been warmer". Lanegan, the man of stone, smiles. Yes, a quip from Dulli and a smile from Lanegan before a note is even played. This is going to be a good show.

And they don't disappoint, launching into a quartet of Gutter Twins tunes (The Body, God's Children, The Stations and We Have Met Before) before bringing out some sweet surprises from each of the singer/songwriters' separate careers. Lanegan sends chills with deep, soulful renditions of Creeping Coastline Of Lights, Resurrection Song, Sunrise and River Rise (the last two coming from Lanegan's second album, Whiskey For The Holy Ghost, much to the delighted cheers of his dedicated following present) and, for me, the sheer joy of hearing one of my all-time favourite Lanegan songs, Kimiko's Dream House, which overcame some shakey harmonies to sound positively hymn-like, rather appropriate given the setting.

But the highlight of the evening came when Dulli, after giving us a couple of Twilight Singers' tracks, dug back to the Afghan Whigs vaults for a stunning rendition of Summer's Kiss.

There was comedy too. Dulli jokingly berated the crowd for not knowing a children's song he wanted to play: "English people - they don't know about our childhood stuff," to which a smirking Lanegan replied "and neither do they want to." To mock outrage Dulli accused him of "trying to subvert one of my diva moments" which was met by an almost (shock, horror!) laughing Lanegan saying "I was trying to, but obviously it's failed." My jaw almost hit the ground. It's the most I've ever heard Lanegan say having seen him in concert 14 times now.

Funniest moment though came when the duo sang a moody cover of Cole Porter's I Get A Kick Out Of You, which led to laughter from the crowd, as well as Lanegan and even Greg himself when Dulli attempted to sing the lines:

"Some they may go for cocaine,

I'm sure that if, I took even one sniff

It would bore me terrifically too."

There were fine, unusual covers of All I Have To Do Is Dream and Tennessee Waltz (with Dave Rosser singing the lead), making the night pretty special and probably the closest some people in attendance have had to a religious experience in a church in a long time or ever, in fact.