Concert Review: Nick Lowe at the Dakota Jazz Club

Nick Lowe at the Dakota Jazz Club, January 3, 2019. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

My first concert of 2019 was one of my favorite people to see live: singer-songwriter extraordinaire Nick Lowe, who performed solo at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis tonight. I’ve seen Nick Lowe in concert several times before, and seeing him perform solo is always a treat. Inevitably, the songs sound somewhat different from the familiar studio versions, but it never feels as though they’re missing anything when Lowe performs them solo. Lowe’s rhythmic guitar playing propels the songs along.

Lowe’s songs are beautifully constructed—there’s not a wasted word or phrase, especially in his songs from the last 25 years or so. Minimalist masterpieces, they say a lot in their brevity. Songs like “I Read a Lot” and “House for Sale” describe experiences vividly in just a few stanzas. Lowe revealed that as he was writing “I Read a Lot” he was imagining Michael Buble singing it. To me, it sounds like a perfect Nick Lowe song. But Lowe has long said that when he writes a song he wants it to sound like it’s a standard, like it’s already been around for ages. 

“People Change,” the concert opener, is one of my favorite songs to explain Lowe’s gift for economy of language. It starts out “Storybook love, made for one another/Now she treats you just like a brother.” In 14 words, Lowe has created an entire story. We get the point immediately, no need for verse upon verse.

Nick looked good, sharply dressed and rail-thin, wearing a white button-down shirt and black slacks, and black dress shoes. Lowe’s shock of pure white hair gives him a distinguished air, as do his black-framed glasses, behind which are a handsome pair of very blue eyes. 

Lowe sang a new song, “Love Starvation,” and looking back at my review of Lowe’s 2016 concert at the Dakota, I recall that he sang some new songs then as well, so perhaps we can hope for a new album in the not-too-distant future? Fingers crossed, anyway. 

Lowe sang a couple of covers, including a lovely version of “Heartbreaker,” written by the Bee Gees for Dionne Warwick, and included on Lowe’s 2018 EP Tokyo Bay. In Lowe’s hands, the song becomes a stripped down cry of anguish. Lowe’s voice is very expressive, and he uses it to great emotional effect, especially on ballads. My wife and my mother both find Lowe’s voice very sexy. (My wife adores Nick’s song “Let’s Stay in and Make Love.”)

I was very pleased that Lowe sang “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day,” which is one of my favorites of his. Inevitably, “Cruel to be Kind” made an appearance, and after it was done, Nick reprised the catchy chorus and we all sang along loudly, which was a lot of fun. We also got to sing along to the chorus of “When I Write the Book,” one of Lowe’s power pop gems from the band Rockpile. 

Lowe made a funny joke about the “new musicians’ rules going into effect this year: no encores.” (He was kidding, of course.) The first encore concluded with “(What’s So Funny ‘bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” Lowe’s most famous song, which is ironic, since Lowe’s original version, cut with the band Brinsley Schwarz, isn’t that famous. It was Elvis Costello’s 1979 cover version that made the song a classic. And it was Curtis Stigers’ version on the soundtrack of The Bodyguard that netted Lowe a windfall in royalties when he most needed it. Nick came back for a second encore, his beautiful, heartfelt version of Elvis Costello’s “Alison.”

Setlist: 

People Change

Stoplight Roses

Love Starvation

Long Limbed Girl

Has She Got a Friend?

What’s Shakin’ on the Hill

Ragin’ Eyes

The Club

Heartbreaker

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day

Without Love

I Live on a Battlefield

I Read a Lot

Cruel to be Kind

Heart

Tokyo Bay

House for Sale

Lonely Just Like Me

I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)

When I Write the Book

(What’s So Funny ‘bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Alison