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Gig review: Sean Lennon - Manchester Academy 2 - Nov 5 2006
For the son of a legend there was a surprisingly slim turnout for this gig. The crowd consisted in the main of people who were either avid John Lennon fans or people just looking to see a member of the Lennon clan in the flesh, which is a shame really as his new album ‘Friendly Fire’ is surely a work of quiet genius.
The new album has much in common with Elliott Smith, but this in itself is not a surprise as Elliott was always heavily inspired by the Beatles and for obvious reasons, so was Sean. With this album Sean seems to bridge the gap between both his father and Elliott with enough original sounding material to make his new retinue of songs very much his own. Sean is constantly dogged by comparisons to his late father, but this album, while being reminiscent of much of John’s work is moving further from John’s Merseybeat, working class style and moves more toward insightful and moving singer/ songwriter territory.
Throughout the performance Sean seemed tight lipped, but that may have been due the motley menagerie of Lennon-philes that populated the crowd, who were incidentally, a clearly intimidating bunch of varying ages and from incredibly different backgrounds. Although this is normally a good sign of a band that has managed to capture a broad spectrum of fans, in this case there was a vague sinister feeling that the crowd weren’t quite there for the right reasons… For example, one of the ensemble was worryingly dressed a bit too much like John Lennon, wearing the same ‘I love New York’ T-shirt and denim jacket that John so often donned in his latter day photo shoots. Wisely using the excuse of an early Sunday curfew, Sean only played the one song in his encore…
Barring the interesting and varied crowd, the gig was otherwise superb and is clearly a testament to Sean’s songwriting ability. Sean was clearly not putting his all into the show, but regardless of this fact all of his songs played out beautifully and every last one was a clear joy to witness. The gig began with the fantastic song, “Dead Meat”, a cinematic and deeply moving piece that captured everybody and instantly sucked the rabid crowd into his bittersweet world. However, I did think that this song was an unusual choice for an opener, although the song drew everybody quickly into the spirit of his music, this is still an obvious standout track from his new album and to put it on so early in the show seemed odd, especially as it was such a sweet song. But then, you could argue that all the tracks are of the same high standard and the majority are filled with the same air of pathos. In fact much of the new album, specifically the title track, “Friendly Fire”, is allegedly about Sean’s split from Bijou Philips and the betrayal of his best friend who took her from him, but before they could reconcile their differences his friend, Max, tragically died in a motorcycle accident. The amount of feeling poured into this song is unquestionable, and was clearly a way for Sean to begin to clear the air with his friend and in many ways seems to be seeking forgiveness at the same time as verbalising what he experienced.
It really is surprising that so few are aware of Sean’s work, he has even been caught quipping about his brother Julian’s success and making light of the fact that Sean is often viewed in his brothers shadow. But that in itself is no excuse, Sean has clearly found his own way with this album and I for one will be watching intently for any of his future work.
The only thing missing from the show (apart from a suitably long encore) was the inclusion of any songs from his earlier, more experimental ‘Into the Sun’ album. This could however have detracted from the story that his new album reputedly plays out, if this is the case then I can see the reasons why Sean would not want to ‘taint’ the content of his new collection. Maybe a double tour would go down well in future? In short though, I can’t speak highly enough of the performance, the stage presence and despite his quiet onstage nature, his obvious charisma. All of which added up to be a beautifully personal gig that, if there’s any justice, won’t be seen for a long time as he’ll be commanding much larger venues in the future.
