A blues soaked Love of the Common People and a gravelly, stripped back Every Time You Go Away set the tone for an intimate evening with Paul Young. Yet despite these highlights, the show never settled into a rousing, nostalgic rhythm I’d hoped for.
The audience was unusually quiet, creating moments of discomfort. At one point, long time collaborator Jamie Moses urged us to applaud just to break the silence.
“I’ve never seen a quieter audience,” he later remarked. “It’s like being in church.”
He wasn’t wrong. Even a new take on Wherever I Lay My Hat drew only ripples of polite appreciation.
Recollections about George Michael, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Bob Geldof were good humoured, though the accompanying footage was often familiar. A segment about a “duet” with Glen Campbell landed oddly.
Moses occasionally hesitated, faltering for his next line rather than steering the evening with confidence, and technical gremlins added unwelcome screechy noises.
Standout moments came when the decades long friends relaxed into each other’s company, singing reinvented versions of the biggest hits. We also heard understated new material, with Young softly teasing those who still prefer the classics.
He took generous time to answer audience questions and came across as a thoroughly decent man. Some messages in his “Ask Paul” box encouraged him to dish the dirt on famous encounters. He politely declined.
I was surprised there was no mention of his late wife, Stacey, given her prominence in his life and story, and the fact they met on the video set for Come Back and Stay. And when asked whether he’d met any celebrities who were “a**holes”, he didn’t reference Gino D’Acampo famously stealing his guitar during a burglary, a tale many might have expected. Still, his restraint reinforced his gentlemanly nature. He has already spoken publicly about forgiving the now disgraced TV chef, after all.
When Black Country rock legend Robert Plant’s name came up, a local connection went unacknowledged. A small nod to shared heritage might have warmed the room.
Hearing the multimillion selling singer talk fondly about contemporaries who still fill stadiums — Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bono, Tom Jones and Roger Taylor — emphasised a contrast with our modest setting. He may no longer be playing to audiences of such scale, but he felt at home here, particularly as part of a significant UK and Ireland tour where several venues sold out early.
We were far from the vast stages he was reminiscing about, yet it was clear Young now savours doing things differently. He performs for the love of it, whatever the size of the crowd. He even recalled playing another beloved Black Country venue just down the road — The Robin 2 — with Moses’ Mexican inspired band, Los Pacaminos.
Watching him now made me reflect on whether kindness and showmanship always go hand in hand. Young made his mark as a smooth, blue eyed soul singer in the 80s. He was never a ‘bad boy’ of pop, and his fans loved him for it.
This isn’t a complaint, but a question about what we expect from our musical heroes as they grow older. Now aged 70, he has nothing to prove, remains light on his feet and, as he proudly showed us, can still fit into the jacket he wore for a Smash Hits photoshoot that ended up being used far more widely. Perhaps our expectations are skewed by YouTube snippets from another era — when he was in his energetic prime, holding a Live Aid audience in the palm of his hand.
Why do we yearn for the comfort of an artist whose most beloved album was made nearly half a century ago?
Emerging musicians still have fire in their belly. A night like this couldn’t have been more laid back.
Overall, it was a pleasant night and I’m glad I went. But something remained missing. I left wishing for a show more fully in tune with the richness of the life and career it set out to explore.
Linda Aitchison.
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