Julian Cope Wulfrun Hall

I saw Julian Cope at Wolverhampton Wulfrun hall on 22nd Jan, with the unexpected bonus of it being a freebie with 2 hours notice. Anticipation is good but free and a lift is better. Even with only 2 hours anticipation I was really looking forward to it. I last saw him doing his Modern Antiquarian speaking tour at Birmingham Glee Club (1998?) and very entertaining he was too. I’d also seen him with the Teardrops on the Wilder tour at Manchester Apollo and solo tours at The Hacienda (with the Woodentops), Manchester Carousel (leathers and mike-stand era) and Moseley Dance Centre (Peggy Suicide). Fair to say then I’m a bit of a fan, read the books and seen him in various stages of Shamanic and shambolic.

He was introduced as Julian Cope and his Ear Splitting Psychedelic Band. Great start. JC hurtled round the stage like an Iggy Pop possessed in a leather Stetson, shades and a Madonna radio mike to Hanging Out And Hung Up On The Line from Peggy Suicide. Sounds good so far...except there were no vocals and neither he nor the crowd ever recovered. The technical problems lasted for a couple of songs, but, even when resolved he was still struggling to hit notes. I really don’t want to kick The Cope. I’d heard him on Mark Radcliffe late last year, playing Sitting In The Room Where They Found Saddam In” and I’d heard him on Radio 6, more recently. Both times he was witty, engaging and the songs mostly worked. At Wolves though the crowd seemed baffled and hostile to his between song chat. (“We need strong women.... so the wild men can be strong”). As he prepared to sing Promised Land from Peggy Suicide a voice from the crowd rang out “You’ll fuck it up.” He did. There was needless clapping along too, which prompted, “You know out of time clapping really fucks me off”. By now I think he knew he’d lost the night. There were attempts at crowd pleasing with World Shut Your Mouth (vocals suffered there), Bandy’s First Jump, Head hung low and an amazingly misjudged version of Spacehopper. As the last song of the night it was not only slower than the original but the drummer did the half time heavy metal drum trick making it sound even slower.

For all guitar fetishists and closet cock rockers (hands up) Copey played a Flying V, and I spotted a Les Paul bass. There was some great wiggy guitar playing throughout. Other highlights included the black lipstick wearing from the guitarist who swapped bass and guitar duties with Donald Ross Skinner. Subtle Energies Commission sounded good and looked even better as DRS was playing a double-necked guitar. The best new song was Give Me Head. I was at the bar then and missed out.

Copey had announced that “I’m entering my second psychedelic phase” and that his post gig plans involved some Mexican mushrooms. On the drive back I heard Boards Of Canada’s first lp and was staggered. I would normally run a mile from scary electronica but the analogue synth washes and jabbering filthy scratchy sounds that made up the rhythm just fitted in so well with the lights on the motorway. In fact it was more psychedelic than the gig.