The Eels: Three little words towards a slippery slope?

Once you've been watching live rock acts for a number of years you learn to be wary of any performer who announces not a show, but "An Evening With...". This usually signals that the artist has reached such a peak of acclaim that they feel they can indulge their loyal fans with all manner of personal trivia instead of actually playing music. It can also mean that they don't have any new material, or that they are bereft of new ideas and are bored with the stuff that made them big in the first place...

Yet another worrisome indicator ahead of this performance was that Eels official web site still seems to weigh heavily on the 2000-2001 albums (both brilliant btw), the last new stuff coming in 2005 - newer releases being either live or old out-takes.

So it was with some trepidation that I caught the 2008 Eels tour, not wanting to be witness to a possible fall. Surely Everett couldn't be as bad as Elvis Costello was in London that time: Costello cosied up in smaller theatres with no band, talking, showing pointless holiday snaps, using a silly 'wheel-of-fortune' for some game he thought up while only playing occasional medleys of songs and completing none.

Making your 'An Evening With' tour work could be a bigger challenge than making it in the first place.

If you don't know it by now, Everett is the son of a famous quantum physicist who proposed the possibility of parallel universes & exchanged letters with Einstein. In true 'An Evening With' otherworldliness, the show opened with a one-and-a-half hour documentary... Yes at least that long, and of course it was our hero going about rehashing his famous Dad's theories with numerous scientists... it was pretty interesting, gave me time to pop out for a beer and at least he didn't break into song, no Informational Science Musical.

Next came the set and SUCH relief - he didn't screw it up like others have. His chat was concise, the wit was sharp, the altercations with one loudmouth never disintegrated in the way Costello's had (Elvis was so affronted he spent 10 minutes publicly humiliating a man who was justifiably asking for his money back) AND The Eels played music.

Like the website, the playlist relied heavily on the DAISIES OF THE GALAXY and SOULJACKER albums for highlights. On stage was a full array of instruments but the only support came from 'The Chet', a hyper-talented multi-instrumentalist, playing in his home town to great acclaim. They were so competent and confident in their work it almost seemed distant, like another dimension... no. No complaints they played and played well. It should be noticed that despite a few meatier Beck-like tunes, and the hard image of Souljacker, Everett is mostly a quiet, thoughtful songwriter, more akin to Randy Newman. His touch and insight have produced many - more than a dozen, truly magnificent songs. Lately he's been doing other stuff, resolving his Father's legacy, experimenting musically and writing a bio - oh yes that was a banana skin, the Chet reading from Everett's autobiography was naff, but my abiding memory will be of them pulling off one of the slickest stage tricks I've seen; seamlessly switching from drums to piano 3 times within the song Flyswatter - literally replacing each other that is, in a truly multi-dimensional doff to his Dad - a very special moment.