Don't Look Back is a season of concerts promoted every year by the people behind the marvelous All Tomorrow's Parties festival. The idea for the shows is a simple one - so simple it's a wonder nobody has thought to capitalise on it before. (Although I know that the odd artist has, particularly in recent years, done the odd show of a similar nature and it's not the most original concept in rock and roll.)
A band or singer is invited to perform their most supposedly classic record, in its entirety, and then play a few extra things to flesh out the concert. Hitch and I have been to a fair few DLB shows and in the main they deliver brilliantly. Tortoise doing Millions Now Living Will Never Die was a triumph, and Tindersticks' performance at the Barbican was a fitting (apparent) end to their career. More problematic is when a much older band revisits a record that has gone down in legend - sometimes because the record is best remembered as a legend, and sometimes because the band should have stayed a thrilling memory rather than a bloated parody of their former selves. To wit: Iggy and the Stooges doing FunHouse was magnificent, Gang of Four playing Entertainment! rather embarrassing (even more so for those of us sittting in the fron row looking at the sweat dripping down their wrinkled faces).
This year is a mixed prospect so far - Sonic Youth (rapidly rising up my personal chart of most overrated rock bands of all time), House Of Love (once thought to be the saviours of British guitar rock - hmmm...) and Slint performing Spiderland. (Speaking of which - didn't Slint reform for a few extremely select shows including headlining an ATP weekend with the promise they'd never play together again? He who makes the rules breaks the rules too obviously - especially if hes an overzealous concert promoter.)
Anyhow - there are more DLB concerts to be announced soon. So in the spirit that if you don't ask you don't get, herewith my Top 10 wish list for future Don't Look Back evenings:
YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS play Colossal Youth
TOM WAITS & CRYSTAL GAYLE play One From The Heart
DEVO play Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
ARCADE FIRE play Funeral
RED HOUSE PAINTERS play Red House Painters (Rollercoaster)
DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS play Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
BOARDS OF CANADA play Geogaddi
KRAFTWERK play Trans Europe Express
JONI MITCHELL plays The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL play In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
and a couple of ludicrously implausible ones for good measure (yep, even more improbable than the ones above)
KATE BUSH plays Never ForEver
STEVIE WONDER plays Innervisions