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Edwyn Collins review – soulful inspiration still ripping it up

QMU, Glasgow
At times using his walking stick as a conductor’s baton, Collins may have turned 60 but he’s not letting up in this cracking show

It has been 14 years since Edwyn Collins – the former Orange Juice frontman turned suave solo star – suffered two cerebral haemorrhages, a near-death experience that scrambled his language skills and left him physically impaired. In the years since, his focus on rehabilitation and determination to make new music have been inspiring examples of grit and wit. He turned 60 last week, but rather than taking his foot off the gas, Collins and his six-piece band are heading off around the UK in support of Badbea, his ruminative but often frisky new record.

One of the creative sparks behind Badbea, his ninth solo album, was repurposing lyrics that Collins had written before his brush with mortality. Similarly, this gig straddles the past and present, interlacing recent material with beloved classics. In Glasgow, it is a particularly supportive home town crowd – a buoyant throng dotted with vintage quiffs – and the energy levels crackle with every artfully recreated Orange Juice track, from the loping funk of I Guess I’m Just a Little Too Sensitive to the chiming guitars of Dying Day.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HvbKqI
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