Last Monday Paul and I went to see art-rock pioneer Brian Eno's first ever proper tour with the 36-piece Baltic Sea Philharmonic. They were performing an extremely rare gig of The Ship and other notable works at the Royal Festival Hall on London's glitzy South Bank.
The ambitious and imaginatively staged performance began with the BSP slowly creeping into view. Performing with wireless microphones they were free to ebb and flow - much like the album's title track - The Ship is a 20-minute symphonic shanty of drones and creaks, shivering timbers and softly lapping melodic waves.
Eno, in pink shirt, sang from the back with his gravelly voice and poetically cryptic lyrics.
The set moved on to include his majestic reworking of The Velvet Underground’s I'm Set Free, a nostalgic throwback of By This River (from the 1977 solo album Before and After Science), and a mournfully beautiful Making Gardens out of Silence as a requiem for the people of both Palestine and Israel.
It was beautiful. It was hypnotic. It was fantastic.
Talking Heads, U2, and Coldplay - eat your hearts out.
Set List: -
The Ship
Fickle Sun (I)
Fickle Sun (II) The Hour Is Thin
Fickle Sun (III) I'm Set Free
By This River
Who Gives a Thought
And Then So Clear
Encore:
Bone Bomb
Making Gardens Out of Silence
There Were Bells
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