Mark Lanegan at The Forum

Mark Lanegan Band
Creature With The Atom Brain
Duke Garwood
The Forum, 4 December 2012

I feel like I've said all I can say about Duke Garwood. Love him or loathe him he's pretty much a given at any Mark Lanegan gig these days. A couple of years ago his droning, feedback-fueled gothic blues really divided opinions but I think since he's now joined by a drummer to help drive the songs along and added quite a few more upbeat and shorter songs to his repertoire, for those more interested in melody over atmospherics, he's certainly easier to love. The audience tonight definitely seem appreciative for once, which is nice to see.

Even more unexpected and impressive for me though was the next band on the bill: Belgian rock band Creature With The Atom Brain. They are definitely a band with a few Masters Of Reality and Queens Of The Stone Age albums in their collection, specialising in a riff-driven groove with laid-back half-spoken vocals courtesy of singer-guitarist Aldo Struyf (who for some reason really reminded me of Nigel Tufnel). Apparently Mark Lanegan has sung on a couple of their albums, which makes sense because they definitely share a bond musically, although unfortunately he doesn't make an appearance with them tonight. Duke Garwood does though, providing some discordant saxophone at the end of Translyvania, the title track of their second album. 

After that slew of support acts (there was also another at the beginning called Lyenn who I unfortunately only caught the last song of), Mark Lanegan finally appeared on stage with his band at almost quarter to ten.  I've seen Lanegan in various guises - with Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers and the Gutter Twins among others - many times over the years, the last couple of times were two hugely enjoyable acoustic shows, but I haven't seen him play a full band solo show since about 2004. Back then he was about two hours late on stage and looked in a state: gaunt, skinny and like he was clinging onto the microphone for his dear life. Thankfully tonight once again he looks big, strong and healthy again, with a mean grimace that would be enough to scare small children. And of course that voice is better than ever, even competing with a loud rock band its deep growl is capable of shaking the building. 

His band it turns out is made up of half of Creature With The Atom Brain (no Alain Johannes unfortunately) and bathed in red light, aside from the steady, strong beat of the drummer, they are pretty much as still and unshowy as Lanegan himself. As a performer he's always been a minimalist, barely moving, holding the microphone tightly and angrily, always looking away from the audience between lines and speaking only to say thank you and introduce the band. At his recent acoustic performances and collaborations with Isobel Campbell and Greg Dulli he's been talking a little more (and even smiling!) but tonight he is back to the dark silent stranger we all know and love. To be fair, Lanegan doesn't need to do anymore than stand there and sing. His incredible deep voice and menacing presence says it all. The man has more charisma and power standing there doing nothing than a hundred showboating frontmen could ever dream of. 

Set-wise it's pretty much a showcase for his first solo album in eight years, the excellent Blues Funeral, starting off with the lead single The Gravedigger's Song. Many of the songs sound tremendous live, in particular the steady cool groove of Gray Goes Black, the riveting punk meets gospel of Quiver Syndrome and the rather appropriately named Ode To Sad Disco, maybe Lanegan's most danceable song.  There's a few old favourites from Bubblegum, like Hit The City, Wedding Dress and One Hundred Days but only a couple of songs pre-2004 sadly (One Way Street from Field Songs and the Leaving Trains cover, Creeping Coastline Of Lights, from I'll Take Care Of You) but really I didn't even notice this until after because there wasn't any time for disappointment, it was all consistently brilliant as you'd expect Lanegan to be. He even appeased Screaming Trees fans by throwing in a rare track, Black Rose Way, and offered up a Queens Of The Stone Age favourite, Hangin' Tree, for the encore.

I must also mention that I managed to get hold of Lanegan's surprise Christmas EP, available only at the shows, amusingly called Dark Mark Does Christmas, which was a great bonus and amazing to hear him bring his moody baritone to some old festive favourites. To get hold of that was definitely the cherry on top of a fantastic night. Good old Dark Mark does it again.