The Figgs Revitalize Graham Parker
Acid Bubblegum Tour Kicked Off Friday
"I met these guys outside before the show," says Graham Parker of his ace
back-up band, the Figgs. "Had a talk with 'em and decided to let 'em play. I don't know about you,
but I think they're all right." Yeah, the kids were sure all right. Supporting Parker on the
opening night of his Acid Bubblegum tour (Oct. 11, the Met Cafe, Providence, Rhode Island)
on barely a week's worth of rehearsals, the Figgs were more than up to the task, pounding through
a set's worth of Parker's fire-bitten repertoire with the kind of piss and vinegar Parker himself
helped to make standard.
Alternating between his now-classic hard rock and cuts from his fine new album,
the forty-something Parker seemed revitalized, even on oft-performed tracks like "Local Girls,"
"Saturday Night Is Dead," and "Stupefaction." Dressed in a pink-streaked white T-shirt and jeans
and peering out from his trademark set of amber-tinted shades, Parker looked genuinely pleased as
he launched into raved-up versions of crowd-pleasing material.
With Parker mainly sticking to rhythm guitar and vocals, Figgs guitarists Mike
Gent and Guy Lyons had plenty of leeway to trade hyper, left channel/right channel solos, tearing
wholeheartedly into new songs like "Character Assassination" and "Sharpening Axes," and adorning
revered Parker tracks like "Soul Shoes" and "Little Miss Understanding" with souped-up intensity.
Bassist Pete Donnelly and drummer Pete Hayes did a fantastic job holding the entire evening fast,
with tight, imaginative playing and opening night vigor. Even the quieter numbers, the downbeat
"She Never Let Me Down" and the solo acoustic "The Girl At The End Of The Pier," both from Acid
Bubblegum, possessed the kind of bittersweet, mordant edge only the former Brit pub rocker
could pull off.
All of this attitude, certainly, did not go lost on the nearly sold-out crowd,
many of whom had taken to singing along to some of Parker's best known tunes. And they showed
their appreciation by granting Parker a couple of generous encores, highlighted by a very tasty
version "Passion Is No Ordinary Word."
-Bob Gulla
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