Paul Weller, Glasgow review: 'supremely classy'

Paul Weller has fallen down the weekend vortex that is the Barrowland ballroom, a venue, he noted, where every night feels like a Saturday night. Even so, the mood was mainly mellow, soulful and pastoral for a good proportion of his current set with the slick soul vibes, smoochy saxophone and siren soul backing vocals of new song Soul Wandering an early highlight.

Weller himself appeared completely relaxed and at home in the space, chattier than usual and emboldened to speak out, albeit gently, about the war in the Middle East, dedicating the spring-fresh Style Council song My Ever Changing Moods to the people of Palestine: “if nothing else, we are thinking about them”.

Sticking with the Style-ish mid-Eighties, the supremely classy Have You Ever Had It Blue was imbued with the featherlight flourish of Jacko Peake’s flute while Shout to the Top was its old punchy self.

If the Style Council material was sounding good for its age, so was Weller’s 30-year association with guitarist Steve Cradock, who supplied a sumptuous bluesy solo on You Do Something to Me.

Weller cherrypicked shrewdly from his immense catalogue in a two-hour, 26-song set which ranged from the elegant languor of Above the Clouds to the heavier psych delivery of Into Tomorrow, with bonus double drummer action. Nothing was overcooked however, with Weller even hinting that he might drop some verses from The Jam classic That’s Entertainment, another song which has aged as gracefully as Weller himself.

Jam material was spread sparingly but tastily. Start dropped mid-set like a surprise visit from an old pal and the northern soul momentum of A Town Called Malice crowned the evening, with Weller testifying on tambourine as he hailed the audience affectionately as “comrades”.