LIVE REVIEW : THE AUTUMN DEFENSE AT THE LEXINGTON 24/11/2013

 
A Sunday night gig, probably the perfect evening to enjoy an Autumn Defense show. Wilco is resting after quite the long tour that followed the release of their The Whole Love LP which means that all its members have got time for their side projects. John Stiratt and Pat Sansone have just finished recording the fifth Autum Defense LP that will be coming out in January 2014 and they were doing a short run of european dates at the end of November to promote while promoting their forthcoming album. Most Autumn Defense gigs outside of the United States are just Stiratt and Sansone with Keyboard and Acoustic guitars which is the configuration we got at The Lexington.

The Lexington is probably one of the best venue for acoustic acts in London. The room is the perfect size which means that in the case the turnout is small it won't feel empty. The audience is great. In all 3 gigs I've seen there, you could hear a pin drop during the songs with thunderous applause just after the last chord faded out. I only caught the last few bars of opener Leah Mason (I had underestimated the walking distance between Kings Cross and the Venue) but her and her two man band sounded pretty good.

Stiratt and Sanson are reluctant frontmans (maybe a consequence of being in a band where the main guy is quite controlling). Sansone seemed to get more comfortable as the gig went by but Stiratt seemed a bit more reluctant when handling banter duties. From what I recall of the performance, there was quite a fair chunk of the tracks from the Circles LP that were played with tunes from their eponymous record and "Once Around" interspersed. Biggest response was for "Swallows Of London Town" which was introduced by a very funny speech by Pat Sansone durig which he apologized fpr including the word rain in the lyrics. They also included a nice version of "It's Just That Simple" from the first Wilco record and a over of the Fleetwood Mac song "Sentimental Lady". They are both very gifted musicians but Sansone is a notch above Stiratt, his piano playing was fantastic. They came back for a couple of songs but had to call it a night after that because they didn't know any other songs to play. Stiratt promised that they would come back with a full band next year.