A well-deserved victory lap from Graham Coxon stops off at Rough Trade East for a deep dive into his solo career. The Waeve and Blur member hasn’t stopped creating over the last few years and looks to amplify and revive his back catalogue with a series of shows celebrating his deep cuts and solo classics. He has more than a few great pieces under his belt and many of them featured on his latest album, Castle Park. His show at Rough Trade East, where Yard Act took to the stage just a few days ago, is a fantastic example of Coxon’s qualities as both a guitarist and vocalist. He’s the full package as far as songwriters go and has flexed his muscles more than a few times since the release of his debut solo album, The Sky is Too High. That it may be, but he’s flying around there too, and shows us why he deserves to be up there with the greats throughout this show.
New album material from Coxon, primarily Billy Says and Alright, sounds fantastic in this stripped-back, acoustic environment. He sounds a little uncomfortable with the spotlight on him, but it’s a quiet and charming set, picking up parts of his discography that have otherwise gone unsung. His commitments with Blur, The Waeve, and working away on soundtracks have kept Coxon from the stage. Now that he’s back, we can hear what we were missing. Short and sweet songs like Latte are planted early in the show. The story behind the writing, which Coxon delivers before performing, is a touch more interesting than the song itself, but it’s a credit to his back-and-forth with the audience. He often sounds as though he’s drifting from the purpose of his spiel, but rallies before launching into some lovely, acoustic rendition of a The Sky is Too High track. A cheerful night all in, with a clunky but comfortable appeal to the setlist.
Soundtrack land, as Coxon calls it, means a little dip into The End of the F**king World, with nice selections from the first and second season. But the real thrills come from an encore featuring a deep cut Blur track, You’re So Great, and The Sky is Too High song, R U Lonely? Both are Coxon at his best, and not just because he’s digging into the songs that made him the writer he is today. They’re both examples of what he can do with just an acoustic guitar; the tonal change and sincerity of both songs is a stark contrast to little ditties like Latte. A few cuts from Castle Park, his latest album release, are nice too. Billy Says sounds fantastic in acoustic form and shakes off its mod and rock influences to form a well-formed, stripped-back arrangement.
Coxon’s bandmate in The Waeve, Rose Elinor-Dougall, is also on hand for a guest spot. A neat moment, and while we cannot mourn what isn’t there, it’d have been great to hear a stripped-back song from their work on City Lights. If Blur gets a runout, why not The Waeve? That opens a door to requests for The Jaded Hearts Club, and we don’t need to go down that avenue. All in, a nice night of stripped-back charmers from Coxon, who seems to drift occasionally from his on-stage purpose. He chats away with the audience, tells a few anecdotes that don’t quite land, but it’s a pleasant night. His light and awkward charm makes the gig, and there’s a few great and new interpretations of his back catalogue that mean catching him on this stripped-back record store tour is well worth it.
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