NME 2nd July 2005 Issue



LEGENDS: BRIAN WILSON Vs THE LA'S Vs IAN BROWN


Indeed, we must have been somehow transported back to the Big Bang Of Baggy because not only does Ian Brown open his Other Stage headline account with four - count 'em - Roses numbers ('I Wanna Be Adored', 'Sally Cinnamon', 'Made Of Stone' and 'Waterfall'), but also he appears to have remembered how to sing. Usually bearing a close vocal resemblance to a dying labrador, tonight he sings, if not like an angel, at least like a healthy and relatively tuneful labrador.

Sadly, as the set descends into his electro-funky solo tunes - a dolorous 'Golden Gaze', a honking 'Love Like A Fountain' - the foghorn tonsils start to crack and the thick fog of boredom sets in, culminating in a farce of an 'encore' where Ian comes onstage, shows us Mani and then walks straight off again, the closest Glasto 2005 gets to a Roses reunion. So it's one-nil to the baffled surfing-granddad dude, and no congratulatory carrots for King Donkey. Now, time to go dredge out the sunken wreck of the car...





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