World Party are ace

So Steph talked me into going to see a World Party gig. I had heard of them and a few of their songs (like "Put The Message In The Box") but was a little dubious. I had a quick read of their website before the gig last night and learnt a few interesting things. World Party is all about one guy really - Karl Wallinger - who left The Waterboys years ago to start his own band. They made several albums and had some success. Then it seems the rest of his band split and went and recorded "She's The One" with Robbie Williams - a song that Wallinger originally wrote. About the same time, the poor guy had a brain aneurysm.

Anyway, he's back now with a new band and a new album, and we saw them last night at Richards On Richards, a music club just next door to where we used to live when we first arrived in Canada. And they were great! Wallinger was looking older and somewhat portly, but he was a remarkably easy-going and cheerful guy. He had a habit of talking to the audience at length between songs, and although most of what he said made little sense, it was usually pretty amusing and really helped to establish a connection between the band and the audience. His chatter was covering some technical problems too - it seemed that the bass player's guitar was on the blink all evening. But when they were belting out the songs, they rocked. The melodies and lyrics were great, and the musicianship of the whole band excellent. Great songs performed by great musicians - superb entertainment by any measure. I am now officially a World Party fan. Time to buy some of their albums I think. And thanks Steph for talking me into it :)