CONCERT REVIEW: Randy Newman (Winterthur, Switzerland)

- Reto Koradi

These days, we get flooded with music. You can see videos on dozens of TV channels, there are more new records than anyone could ever handle and huge festivals take place almost every week. But the more possibilites there are, the more difficult it gets to find the REAL music experience. Does it happen on MTV? Certainly not. Or in stadiums? If you like to pay for seeing your stars on a video wall. No, I think that the real music happens in small clubs. But unfortunately it's a rare occurence to catch a "big one" in a small venue. I had the luck to see Randy Newman together with not much more than 100 people, the smallest concert he's been playing in 16 years.

The stage is hardly big enough to hold his piano, and only a few inches higher than floor level. So artist and audience are really close, in fact he will later tell somebody to "take your fuckin' foot off the stage!".

I had only seen Randy on old photos, and the first thought when he gets on stage is: he looks old! But considering that he's been recording since end of the 60s, this is not really a surprise. He must be 50, and that's exactly how he looks. There's no need to color the gray hair, this man has nothing to hide.

He starts with "Birmingham", and his voice sounds exactly like on the records, only much better. It's not an angel's voice, but that wouldn't fit anyhow. His skills on the piano are much more audible, and I find that the songs work much better if he does them solo than with background musicians and produced by Mark Knopfler.

His big hit "Short People" comes early on in the set and it looks like he has an ambivalent relation to it. When the audience starts to clap in the rhythm, he stops them immediately by a minor break. Only later does he let us sing "Rider In The Rain" with him.

It's sort of understandable that he doesn't have more success. This man is cynical beyond the pain level of most people. "Short People" is not even the most extreme example: my favorite is "Political Science", where he sings: "They don't respect us, so let's surprise them, we'll drop the big one". People are almost rolling on the floor, but it must hurt if you're American. Unless you think he's serious, which actually seems to happen to him sometimes.

He talks a lot, but not only between songs, also during songs. Most notably in "I Want You To Hurt Like I Do", which he wrote after seeing the video of "We Are The World", and where he explains the imaginary video ("Celebrities holding hands and swinging them back and forth"). Hilarious!

He also talks a lot about his musical project "My Faust", which sounds highly promising, and would be worth an article of its own (Elton John plays an angel!).

Randy Newman is still good for a highly enjoyable evening, with great music and a tremendous amount of fun, at least if you have a sarcastic sense of humor.