Music / fat paul
Review: Julian Cope, The Fleece
Following a DJ set of free jazz and black metal (or was it black jazz and free metal?) by long-term collaborator Fat Paul, Julian Cope takes to the stage wearing trademark peaked army officer’s cap and cut-off leather jacket. His hair is long, his beard big and his shades large, so the only part of his face that’s visible is his nose.
‘How do we know it’s you?’ comes a legitimate query from the audience. Having paid the best part of £25 including booking fee for the pleasure of Julian’s company, it’s a fair question. But this was most definitely Cope – and it was Cope approaching his maverick, eccentric, heathen best.
Years ago, Cope would encore with Reynard The Fox, stick a plastic bag over his bonce and claw it to shreds as the song reached its climax. None of that any more, though: tonight’s Cope was, talkative, chatty and conversational. But the plastic bag routine probably made more sense if you’re looking for The Meaning of Cope.
There wasn’t a theme to Cope’s conversation, though there were many mentions of (and a song about) Liverpool and (inevitably) a lot of talk of drugs. A-Grade LSD for £2 a tab was, he tells us, a significant influence on the young Julian.
So following a rare performance of The Teardrops’ Culture Bunker from 1981, we’re treated to They Were All on Hard Drugs and an encore of Out of my Mind on Dope and Speed to bookmark the drug references.
In between, highlights included Sunspots, Autogeddon (written, we’re told, when he was learning to drive), Double Vegetation, Greatness & Perfection, Pristeen and a smattering of lesser-known tunes from his new Trip Advizer compilation of visionary songs. Cope also announced that he’s over his ‘reunion envy’, enabling him to perform another number by The Teardrop Explodes, 1980’s Treason.
Soul Desert, from the 1992 album Jehovahkill, was sublime – proving that, even though we could only see his nose, this was definitely Cope. Nobody else can do this stuff. They wouldn’t want to go where Julian’s been.
Julian Cope played The Fleece on Sunday, February 1. For upcoming Fleece line-ups, see www.thefleece.co.uk/shows
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