John Cale
Sheffield Leadmill
25th January, 2007

Cale’s set began with a rendition of Heartbreak Hotel, in which his vocals emerged shrouded in layers of pitch-shifting effects. This electronic abstraction mimicked the extent to which Cale went on to mangle, twist and strangle his lyrics, as though attempting to break free from the songs themselves. As with his stark-eyed and impassive onstage presence, the result was to separate Cale the man from Cale the songwriter, leaving only the music. It appeared agonised and intense, Cale dividing his time between keyboards and guitar. The guitar-based songs proved stunningly visceral, most notably a lurching Helen Of Troy and bravura Leaving It Up To You, which proved that, at 64, Cale has lost none of his ways with a death-curdling scream. More recent songs, such as Perfect and Things could be hits, and it’s curious that Cale should have embraced the pop song. It’s a further twist in a unique career, and Cale is alone among his peers in playing sticky-floored student venues with a deeply grooving rhythm section and untamed guitarist in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre T-shirt. Long may he rage.