It's been all of four months since I last went and saw a Velvet Underground tribute band play live, that time it was the Weird Weather Underground at Paper Dress Vintage, they were the Jim Jones Velvets tribute, who re-interpreted the songs. This show was billed as a 60th Anniversary tribute to the Velvet Underground an analogue multimedia extravaganza. This is the UK Another VU not to be mistaken for the American band of the same name.
Before they came on the oil wheels and spinning mirror light machine were already playing over the classic 60's interviews with the Velvets and pictures and films on the screen behind the stage. That all helped to justify why some fans had travelled from as far away as New York, Karlsruhe, Czech republic and France for a chance to see this Arts Council funded tribute to the Exploding Plastic Inevitable in the closest venue london has to The Dom on St Marks Place, the venue has even hosted a few Polish nights.
Another VU opened with Venus in Furs and almost from the first notes Ella Wallace-Manning played on her upturned bass drum it was clear they had decided to sound as close as they could to the Velvets themselves, Bobby Tamarali's custom viola had that drone down perfectly working against Kyle Hills vox bass. Heroin kept the droning viola and had enough menace the song built and fell with Cam Forrester's Gretsch Black falcon guitar and vocals sounding suitably addicted. Run Run Run was introduced as another song about copping drugs in New York and once Bobby Tamarali had switched to guitar, they whipped up a fearsome storm with Ella's deep mallet work keeping imperious time with the lightshow, helping us all trip out a bit. They showed the Velvets gospel soul roots on a cool version of There She Goes Again that had just enough of Hitch Hike to sound spot on.
They then introduced special guest vocalist Caroline Dawson to sing three of the songs Nico sang with the band, on this the 38th anniversary of her passing away on Ibiza. All Tomorrows Parties had a great jangle to the Ostrich guitar and Caroline's vocals were good and icy but not quite as Dark as Nico's own voice was, it also featured Cameron playing the organ for the first time. They made the classic comments about Femme Fatale being the first song Lou never wrote with an augmented chorus, before the close to spot on version of Femme Fatale that almost everyone sang along too. I'll Be Your Mirror was almost all about Ella's tambourine and Caroline's vocals that worked magically together.
After Caroline left the stage to thunderous applause it was time for I'm Waiting For The Man to be played with a rumbling intensity, like you know just how much Lou was clucking, sitting in his moms car Waiting For The Man to show up on Lexington 125. Cameron and Bobby made a big fuss that the next song wasn't on any of the original albums during the intro to Guess I'm Falling in Love, it was however the first song on the very first Velvet Underground album I bought on vinyl, And So On the second part of the outtakes collection put out by the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society in the 80's, it was easier to find than the actual albums back then. This version was good and fuzzy with that sweet pop edge.
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They kept things calm and pretty for Here She Comes Now that the swirling lights drew us deeper into, it was then time to ramp up the energy frazzling everything on White light White Heat that had plenty of distortion and feedback, like we had all just taken some of Billy Names speed. They closed the first set with a blistering version of I Heard Her Call My Name getting reasonably close to the super intense guitar freak outs the song is legendary for.
After the break Cameron came back out wearing a pair of Sterling Morrisons stage trousers, that had been given to him by Martha Morrison (Sterling's widow), they were properly psychedelic. The second set opened with a slow super pretty version of Pale Blue Eyes led by Ella's slow tambourine beat. The version of What Goes On was closer to the 69 live version than the studio one, so had the super funky dance rhythm and a great driving organ part, showing how this song has helped influence modern dance music. They slowed things back down for I'm Set Free with them still hoping to find that new illusion. Rock & Roll was despite all the computations still one of the greatest songs of all time not to be a hit and this was a great sing along. Sweet Jane came complete with the often cut out middle eight heavenly wine and roses part of this immortal love song.
It was then time to close the show with the best part of a 30 minute version of Sister Ray that was full of intense squalling guitar runs, imperious drumming and the sleazy lyrics being spat at us like we are all ready to be sucking on your ding dong, although none of us could hit it sideways during the keyboard freak out and when they slowed it down and did a bit of Sister Ray Part two on their way towards one last magnificent peak, leaving us in no doubt that Another VU had done their homework and are a mighty powerful attempt to sound like the original band. they left the stage to huge applause and everyone I spoke too loved how great they sounded.
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