The Loveless – Live At The Old Woollen

After getting hopelessly lost in darkest Yorkshire, and then spending a fair amount of time hunting for a parking space due to getting hopelessly lost and arriving later than planned, although the parking being free compensated slightly for this, I finally arrive at the Old Woollen. The venue is part of an old mill converted into an arts complex, modernisation is arriving slowly in Yorkshire as the toilets are outside the venue, but that aside this is a nice compact space for tonight’s sold out show by The Loveless. The crowd are unsurprisingly of a certain vintage, as am I, and there’s no support tonight, just a selection of old school tunes that are of an even earlier vintage than the audience and the band, including a presumably ironic spin of Cliff Richard‘s The Young Ones.

The Loveless are Marc Almond (Soft Cell/ Marc & The Mambas), Neal X (Sigue Sigue Sputnik / The Montecristos / Adam Ant), Mat Hector and Ben Ellis, who are part of Iggy Pop‘s touring band, plus James Beaumont on keyboards. Tonight’s gig has been long time coming due to rearrangements, with some tickets approaching their first anniversary, but good things come to those who wait. Finally the lights dim and The Loveless take the stage and kick off with Wild In The Streets, one of the brace of original songs from their upcoming album, Meet The Loveless. They initially seem to be following the track list from their debut album as The Shirelles‘ Putty In Your Hands is next, and sounds just as good as it does on the studio take 

Initally the set comes across as a love letter to the Pebbles compilations as it features the likes of The 13th Floor Elevators‘ You’re Gonna Miss Me, Max Frost & The Troopers‘ The Shape Of Things To Come, The Kinks‘ I’m Not Like Everybody Else and Kit And The Outlaws‘ Don’t Tread On Me. As time progresses the set branches out including a few choice cuts of prime Alice Cooper, an unexpected take on Sigue Sigue Sputnik‘s Love Missile F1-11, a completely out of the blue Black Night (Deep Purple) and a sublime take on T-Rex‘s 20th Century Boy, before finishing with The Sweet‘s Ballroom Blitz and a deliriously received and revved up take on Soft Cell‘s Sex Dwarf.

Think of The Loveless as a kind of all star touring old school jukebox, but with the advantage that no one can empty their pocket shrapnel into them and put something awful on repeat! The Loveless could do no wrong for tonight’s crowd, most of whom have probably encountered Marc Almond live in various stages of his career. Tomorrow The Loveless remain in Yorkshire for an appearance at Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club, and I would bet that a good chunk of tonight’s crowd will also make the short journey. From cutting edge to retro, it’s been a long strange road for Marc Almond and Neal X, and based on tonight the journey is far from over. Speaking of journeys, after the show I got lost in Yorkshire again.

Meet The Loveless is set for release on January 19th and is available for pre-order via Cadiz Music.