Live
< Ian Brown at Razzmatazz, Barcelona
words by Stuart Stubbs
Tonight Ian Brown opens with ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ and encores with ‘I Am The Resurrection’ and ‘F.E.A.R’. That’s all you should need to know about the indie Statesman’s Catalonian stop off – it is, after all, all about what the ex-Stone Rose plucks from his eclectically growing back-catalogue, not how well the hits are delivered. But here’s the thing: this evening, Ian Brown’s vocals (mostly) sound amazing. Really! Flexing, pushing oxygen and generally aping around in front of a band so tight that few notice when Andy Rourke swings by for a song or two, Brown’s set of his greatest consists of bits for him (‘Longsight M13’, ‘Sister Rose’) and bobs for us (‘Waterfall’, ‘Golden Gaze’). And so relaxed with it all, he even signs autographs – mid-song – to the front row, in what is the best we’ve seen Ian Brown since we dreamed of the Roses in the land of nod. Photography by Andrew Kendall
Originally appeared in volume 2, issue 1 of Loud & Quiet magazine
