Bon Chic, Bon Genre

Last Friday (12th), Clan K experienced Nile Rodgers & Chic in the beautiful setting of Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire. It was our second consecutive annual trip to see a concert. And given that the first was a majestic set from Madness, the bar was high. But this is Nile Rodgers we're talking about here, it couldn't be anything less than brilliant, could it? Well...yes and no.

First support slot was filled by (it says here) "one of the UK’s most intriguing viral pop acts in the last 2 years". Now if that didn't immediately identify London 5-piece Deco then, like me, you are considerably out of touch. 

Here they are, posing for a pic with the Westonbirt crowd as a backdrop. The photo provides another useful reference point. See that white tent peak on the right, in the far distance? That's the (hideously overpriced) merch tent and that's roughly where Clan K were, with recycling bins behind us and rosé quaffing picknickers all around.

So, what were Deco like? No idea, we missed them completely. It's an occupational hazard with a Clan K venture, in any configuration. My desire to see every moment and every act on the line up is tempered by the reality of "getting ready", which invariably means that we'll invariably miss the opening act. 

 

Sorry about that, Deco, I'm sure you were fantastic, so here's recent single I Love That Song, with it's League Of Gentlemen-channeling video, to compensate.

Luckily for Clan K, there were two support acts that evening, and we arrived on-site just in time to catch the start of Sophie Ellis-Bextor's set. Sophie comes across as a sweet, lovely human being on TV and is always entertaining but I will confess that, apart from the song that she did with Spiller and uber-hit Murder On The Dancefloor, I'd struggle to name any other song that she's released. 

But that's okay! Perhaps Sophie had anticipated that I wouldn't be alone in this regard and this 8-song, 45-minute "Kitchen Disco" set largely consisted of other people's songs, plus the aforementioned two greatest hits.

 

I'm not going to lie and say that Sophie offered definitive versions of ABBA's Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) or Like A Prayer by Madonna, but she was lots of fun, self-deprecating and humorous and, most importantly, got the crowd going. Well, the thousands near the front at least. Back near the bins, several parties seemed more interested in inane chatter than enjoying the music, the swine!

 

Browsing my collection, I have only one Sophie solo song, a so-so cover of Duel by Propaganda, and a fair bit by her old band theaudience. I do have the CD single of Groovejet but I'm going to forego that and, in a nod to Strangeways' excellent guest series at The Vinyl Villain recently, here's Cinerama with their epic version of the song, recorded for a John Peel session in November 2003.

After a week of lousy wet weather, fortune smiled on us this Friday, with clear skies and pleasant temperatures as the sun began to descend. Everything was running as smooth as clockwork, with the main attraction due on at 9.00pm, so it was something of a surprise when Niles quietly appeared on stage (and on screen) early, the rest of the band joining him one by one. And then, in another unexpected turn, a belated, booming PA announcement of Nile Rodgers & Chic's arrival, reminiscent of a wrestling match. I was half-expecting the announcer to introduce "special guest star, Giant Haystacks"...!

Chic in 2024 are a 9-strong, super-slick machine, Nile with Jerry Barnes (bass), Russell Graham (keyboards), Richard Hilton (keyboards), Ken Gioffre (saxophone), Steve Jankowski (trumpet) and Ralph Rolle (drums). Vocals were mostly provided by Kimberly Davis and Audrey Martells, respectively left and right of Nile in the above picture, although I think pretty much all of the male musicians got to sing lead during the 25-song set.

Twenty-five songs, you say? Did Chic have that many hits? Well, no. As Nile explains during one of his (many, many) monologues throughout the night, Chic were not really that successful back in the day, on either side of the pond. Despite a slew of now-classic singles between 1977 and 1979, only 5 cracked the Top 10 in the UK and only one album, 1979's second C'est Chic, got into the Top 20 peaking at #2. 

Therefore, despite the band performing on stage, the emphasis here is on Nile's incredible career as a writer and producer, with less than a third of the set comprising Chic songs. So, there's an impressive run of hits by Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Madonna, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Duran Duran, Sheila & B. Devotion and David Bowie. Pretty much every one with a Sky Arts-style introduction. All fascinating stuff and, let's face it, at this point in his life, Nile can do what the bloody hell he wants on stage. But it does make for a rather disjointed experience, musically-speaking. 

 

And no-one really needs to hear the guys murdering the classics, vocally at least. The only time it's a bit more bearable is when drummer Ralph Rolle gets into a "funkosity" riff which at least involves some audience participation.

I may be alone in having a mixed reaction to the female singers too. Kimberly Davis leaned more heavily towards the kind of shouty vocal gymnastics that generall leave me cold but was much better when giving a more restrained and nuanced performance. Audrey Martells was the better performer of the two on the night for me and definitely had the best hair.

 

Kimberly and Audrey dominated the screens to each side of the stage, which was pretty much our only view of what was happening on stage. As the real star of the show, Nile seemed to have relatively little screen time, so we could hear but not really see his consummate guitar playing. Quite bizarre, on reflection.

 

Had we got deeper into the crowd, I think our experience would have been different, as it felt like many of the people around us didn't really have a clue who Nile Rodgers was. Given the sheer number of songs that Niles was cramming in, there was an inevitable over reliance on medleys in the first half. 

 

It did mean that it took me a while to warm up, but despite my misgivings the songs are so infectious that it's impossible not to Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) and I was soon giving it my all.

Roughly ninety minutes later, Good Times morphed into Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight and then the concert just kind of stopped. Music piped through the PA as Nile announced that the song was Chic's new single with Purple Disco Machine. And then, he and the band left the stage. 

 

Many of the audience had already been packing up their food and booze, folding their chairs and blankets and hot footing it back to their cars to be 'first' in the queue to exit. Clan K hung on, in the hope of an encore that wasn't to come, then returned to our own vehicle. Our relatively late arrival meant that we were parked quite near the exit, so the price of missing Deco to get out and homeward bound fairly painlessly was worth paying, to be honest.

So, a weird night, all told. You can't deny the brilliance of the music and although it would never have happened, I would have been very happy with an all-Chic set. As it was, the night was a good education if you have no idea who Nile Rodgers is but not quite the unforgettable experience that I was hoping for.

As I can't possibly hope to recreate the set without inflicting a 5-hour Dubhed selection on you, I've instead gone for a 45-minute compilation of Chic classics and deep cuts, spanning 1977 to 1982.  

 

Will You Cry (When You Hear This Selection)? I hope not!

 

1) Good Times (Acappella) (1979)

2) Happy Man (1978)

3) My Forbidden Lover (Album Version) (1979)

4) Would You Be My Baby (1981)

5) Good Times (Edit) (1979)

6) Telling Lies (1981)

7) I Want Your Love (Edit) (1978)

8) Can't Stand To Love You (1979)

9) Soup For One (Single Version) (1982)

10) Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) (Edit) (1977)

11) (Funny) Bone (1978)

12) Flash Back (1981)

13) Will You Cry (When You Hear This Song) (1979)

 

1977: Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) EP: 10

1978: C'est Chic: 2, 11

1978: I Want Your Love EP: 7

1979: Good Times EP: 5

1979: Risqué: 3, 8, 13

1981: Take It Off: 4, 6, 12

1982: Soup For One EP: 9

1998: Classic Beats Volume 02: 1 

Bon Chic, Bon Genre (44:00) (KF) (Mega)

 

The artwork for today's selection is a collage of photos I took on the night, mostly Chic but squint and you'll spot Sophie in there somewhere.

 

The photo of Deco was posted by the band on their Twitter account.

 

The photos of Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Chic were taken by Nige Brown and published by the Stroud Times on 17th July. You can see more of Nige's work here.