Review: Paul Weller at O2 City Hall Newcastle
Invited| Review by Samantha Pearson.
O2 City Hall played host to two incredible consecutive nights of music from the Modfather himself, Paul Weller. Incorporating a mix of his solo career as well as pleasantly surprising us with hits from The Style Council and The Jam.
The night started with support from Liam Bailey, who I wasn’t very familiar with apart from his collaboration ‘Blind Faith’ with Chase & Status back in 2011. He released his most recent album ‘Zero Grace’ in February this year and admitted that he was approached by Weller after he’d heard the album and enjoyed it. Him and his band had a warming presence on stage to kickstart the night, and his standout songs ‘Dance with Me’, ‘It’s Not the Same’ and ‘Stun Me’ highlighted his soul, reggae, and blues-influenced vocal style.
The City Hall started to flood further with Weller fans from all ages, not a surprise with his infamous status spanning to almost 50 years since his first release ‘In the City’ with The Jam in 1977. A huge cheer imploded as Weller and his bandmates took to the stage, starting with some tracks taken from his 2021 album Fat Pop to set the scene, quickly changing to a couple of releases from The Style Council including ‘My Ever Changing Moods’ in which in true Weller style and his political stance, dedicated the song to those caught up in genocide in Gaza and draping his piano in a Palestinian flag for the entire set.
The infectious energy and rebellious spirit has continued with Weller as he made his way through the setlist, spoiling us with singles including ‘Headstart for Happiness’, and ‘Have You Ever Had It Blue’ from The Style Council before moving into solo tracks from his 90s albums and also a couple from more recent releases in the past few years. Midway through the set, we were treated with ‘Shout to the Top!’, the final Style Council song in this set, which was much to the audience delight, immediately followed by ‘Start!’ from The Jam, gaining energy from the whole crowd in both stalls and seating areas. The lighting from the disco balls on stage lit up the whole of City Hall and each song had a different vibe. It was wonderful to see the rest of the band fully committed to showcasing Weller’s talent as well as all coming together to perform an absolutely astounding show from start to finish.
After a streak of 21 songs, it was time for Weller and the rest of the band to disappear from stage, which descended into an uproar from the crowd screaming for more, of course, Weller obliged and they were back onto the stage in no time providing us with some of his more well-known solo tracks including ‘You Do Something to Me’ and ‘Wild Wood’ as well as throwing in a final slower track ‘Burn Out’ from his most recent release ‘66’.
The band exited the stage another time, however, The Jams biggest hits were yet still to be heard and the crowd stayed firmly in place, anticipating this moment, hearing screams from fans ‘We are, we are, we are The Mods!’ Soon enough, the band returned to the stage, Weller, occupying his acoustic, which only meant one thing… the first chord of ‘That’s Entertainment’ was played and the whole of the room were up on their feet singing word for word, this continued through to the final song of the night ‘Town Called Malice’ and you could feel the balcony area rock from the enjoyment of fans dancing and jumping with joy. Unfortunately, due to an incident in the crowd, the song was disrupted midway, but soon got going again from the ‘top’ so we were double treat with the iconic track.
It was an honour to watch the Modfather himself perform alongside with an incredible band by his side, and hopefully his timeless vocals and love for performing continues for time to come. An honour to be able to attend such an incredible night.