The Del Amitri Concert, July 31, 1997
Supper Club - July 31 - NYC
by Jency Jaremko

A new era is upon us: the muttonchops are gone, gone I tell you. So's the hair. Itís almost a buzz cut. It just ain't the same, no tossing of sweaty locks. We are saddened by the loss, not that Justin cares. He looks about 26 now.

The Supper Club show was excellent, although not cracking with frenetic abandon. The Club was mostly full and the crowd was definitely into it, responsive - but not dynamically electrified. Maybe it just seemed that way because we chose to stand at the rail of the bar platform in back so as to have a bit of space to ourselves, plus the sound is better there. Toward the back some folks didn't bother to clap much, not even to encourage encores. The crowd toward the front was much more energized, naturally. Justin was a bit chatty but not with his most breezy charm. At one point someone threw him a pair of shoelaces, to which he made some slightly disparaging remark (I think) and then threw them back into the crowd. Did he not perceive a request for Spare Pair of Laces?

They opened with Some Other Sucker's Parade and segued into Just Like a Man. Immediately there arose a whopping feedback that seemed to last at least a minute, with much consternation evident onstage and off. Justin later explained it as our first opportunity to hear the sound in Andy's brain, or something like that.

Andy, by the way but not incidentally, was barely audible throughout the show. Apparently the guy at the board didn't know Andy was there. Even during Downfall, we pretty much had to imagine what the accordion would've sounded like had it been mixed in. The drummer was terrific and the new guitar player Chris was excellent. He seemed to be having a great time. I wasn't aware of any banter among the guys, yet they seemed very cohesive, bounding around stage sharing mics and all. Justin made no introductions. Notably, I saw Iain smoke only one cigarette on stage - what's with that? And no bottle of Bushmills or whatever. Scary.

I wasnít able to get a set list, but these are the songs I can recall: Some Other Sucker's Parade, Just Like a Man, Start with Me, Hatful of Rain, Not Where It's At, Roll to Me (enough already!!), a beautiful What I Think She Sees, The Ones You Love, a new possible B-side (bluesy), Here and Now, Stone Cold Sober, Last to Know, Cruel Light of Day, 1st two verses of FP's Daughter (per an insistent request), Jimmy Blue, Medicine, Downfall w/ New York New York and disco ball inserted, Kiss to close 2nd encore. They played about 1+1/4 hours.

Security at the Supper Club was out of this world. The bouncers were all built like cargo planes, and a series of them kept anyone lacking a VIP badge from getting upstairs after the show. I bet that if you went up to one of them and said, 'you know, I just don't like the way you're handling this' you would suddenly be up against the wall with your toes two feet above the floor, and your neck about an inch thick. I met Theresa and Doug Couch, and even they had a hell of a time getting upstairs. The cargo planes cared about I&P like they would about a hole in my sock. Generally, the more immovable the resistance, the more determined I become, so I and my friend Ray eventually made it up. We had a brief chat with Justin, who assured me he loves their Chrysalis album, as I do. I'd wondered. (I thought maybe it was just me!) He attributed his new hairstyle simply to "time for a change." I hate to think how much he hates mention of it. We got a couple photos and were off.

All in all it was a terrific show, with a nice balance of new and old material - if only they would drop Roll to Me by now. I didnít feel sparks flying like I did at Irving Plaza in September í95, or maybe even at a Tramps show or two; but as we know this is an excellent live band and they did not disappoint. For a while there I thought the drummer might disappear into a puff of smoke (anyone ever see the Muppet Show?) but the whole band stayed put on stage and rocked out. It was over, as always, too soon.