Paul Draper - Goes Acoustic!

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Paul Draper goes acoustic with Ben Sink 

Paul Draper **** said he didn’t write the song ‘You’ve got no Life Skills, Baby!’, he just wrote down all the things his last girlfriend told him after she dumped him. If this review just consisted of the things Paul Draper said about his show, during the show, this would be his review: “I’ve noticed cool bands are doing acoustic with laptops and drum machines, so we went and got one off of eBay for 38p. It sounds about 35p, “I am just checking social media to see what they think so far. F*#% off back up north you tuneless bas*^%#’  love mum” About the girlfriend whose cutting words he stole for the song he said, “she is not going to sue me, she is a nice woman really”.

A man from the crowd shouted in a muffled voice that Paul is fantastic, and Paul said “what was that? Far as I am concerned he said its f*^%in  fantastic”. He also said something about smoking too many cigarettes during his “lockdown meltdown” but maybe we shouldn’t go there. It wouldn’t make for a good review, but maybe there is another song in there. “Lockdown meltdown”, we can all relate to that. I may have paraphrased Paul Draper a little bit there, so I hope Paul is not going to sue for misquoting. The story about the song could be apocryphal, he may have said it to be funny. I think you get what you get with Draper... a cantankerous, droll, self-effacing northerner. He sometimes wears a slight scowl under his cap and has a sometimes can’t be bothered attitude. He is dead real, but a real deal.

While it is not thought cool to say so, I think he is also kind... that’s what’s in the underbelly. But who cares if Paul Draper is nasty or nice, or made of sugar or spice. I do however agree with Paul’s cat caller it was “f*^% fantastic. An acoustic set is mostly all about the music, the set was a good balance between songs from his new album 'Cult leader Tactics' and classic Mansun tracks. Paul plays ‘Disgusting’, a personal favourite, and ‘Wide Open Space’  with loud acoustic strings, for the electro accoustic guitar elements of classic mansun sound. His vocals are amazingly clean, contrary to his allusions to having smoked too many cigarettes. 

I liked the acoustic version of 'You killed My Fish', which was the most fun as people tried to guess which type of fish would be name checked: “dolphin” - i am pretty sure that wasn’t on the version he recorded.  There was also a bizarre moment when he got the audience singing along to Dolly Parton’s 'Jolene'.  Unlike at his short set at Rough Trade a few months back, everyone now knew the words to ‘Lying About Who You Sleep With’, which is another key track off of the new album. 

I would have liked to make a few tweaks to the setlist. He didn’t play ‘Internationalle’ and ‘Omega Man’. He says ‘Annie’ is his favourite track off of the new album, but these are two of the biggest tracks. Perhaps he left them out because of their political dimension. An acoustic version of ‘Internationalle” would be tricky, and it would involve having Boris Johnson on the backing. Using a lot of backing really wouldn’t have worked with the vibe he was going for, which felt casual, dead beat and minimal... like a much better version of Ed Sheeran. The dead beat vibe had some potency, but I would have liked Paul and Ben to sit a bit nearer the front of the stage and get rid of the mixed green and red lighting. I was photographing the show and bright lights and shifting colours equals better photos.

Most bands make the same mistakes with their lighting - not bright enough, and too much red... acoustic sets are all about creating a mood or an ambience. In Paul Draper's case it is more of a mood, as in moodiness. Photos help artists sell future shows, or the wish you had been here postcard for the concert - it’s part of the FOMO. While Eddie Vedder did say “Josh! Turn these lights out! It’s a f**king Rock concert” he didn’t realise that quite often people hear what they see. Lights equal impact, just look at Muse or Coldplay. Moodiness doesn’t have to mean a gloomy barely lit stage. Returning to niceties, Paul Draper gave a nod to his on stage sidekick Ben, who received massive applause from the audience.

Ben played steadily throughout the show, and had a brief solo, which gave him  a moment to shine. Ben plays his part well, which is to never to out-stage the talent... he is the harmonics to Paul’s lead on the guitar. You can’t be a ‘cult leader’ if you get out-staged. This understated accomplice really kind of fits, in a strange way. Believe me, if you have seen Zakk Wylde play with Ozzy, you would realise the importance of very carefully selecting complementary band members. Zakk and Ozzy do not fit together, Zakk is too erratic and attention grabbing, contrasted with Ozzy’s now more static performances. Paul Draper ended the night with a signing in which he sat there like a Panda eating bamboo, that is moody, laidback and cool.  I hate fake, and worse fake authentic, and that is not Paul. “This is all that is left… at the end of the day” we are going to show our love to Paul Draper and give him **** Question is does it “make you cringe” and do you think “I made it all up”.

Review and Photo's by Dezadie

Paul Draper - Setlist
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Cult leader Tactics
Annie
Friends make the worst Enemies
Disgusting
Negative
Dirty Trix
Don't poke the Bear
Legacy
The Chad who loved Me
You killed my Fish
Wide open Space
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You got no life skills, Baby!
Lying about who you sleep With

Check Out! the Video for 'You've got no life Skills, Baby!' Below...