Live music - Lloyd Cole

Triskel Christchurch, Cork

Kicking off with ‘Past Imperfect’ from his 2001 album The Negatives, Lloyd Cole was in top form for this Cork date on his short Irish tour.

In that song, Cole reflects on a lost weekend in a hotel in Amsterdam in 1984, when his head awoke to find itself in an unmade bed with a long since forgotten girl.

The song opens: “Excuse me, could I use your pen; I have mislaid my own.” In great voice and really excellent on the guitar, Lloyd then draws a magical line between this opener and the set’s closing mega-hit ‘Lost Weekend’.

Meantime, like any chart-busting star, Lloyd spends the odd moment defusing calls for his late 1980s hits.

It’s a gentle battle, and one Lloyd wins with easy charm. A fan asks for ‘Four Flights Up’; Cole whispers “patience” but never actually plays his hit ‘Patience’. The set does include such classics as ‘Rattlesnakes’, ‘Cut Me Down’, and ‘Perfect Skin’; with an encore of ‘Four Flights Up’ and ‘Forest Fire’.

After a mid-gig interval, Cole restarts with ‘Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken’. Some people drift back late. Later, Lloyd repeats the guitar intro to ‘Heartbroken’; when a ripple of applause starts, he stops and chides those who missed the song first time around.

Unprovoked, he mutters: “You’re not getting any younger yourselves.” Later he guesses many of us have left elder kids at home babysitting the younger ones. Ouch, true!

And so we buy into more recent gems, such as ‘Myrtle & Rose’, ‘Blue Like Mars’ and ‘Butterfly’.

Cole tells fans he’ll sign copies of his 2010 album Broken Record after the show; he’s all sold out of his new CD, Standards.

Though I already own Broken Record I buy it just for the signature. Cole has no pen, so he borrows (and keeps!) mine; bringing us back to the lyrics of ‘Past Imperfect’.

Cole may be down one lost weekend, but I’m up one night of great music. Lloyd, if you’re reading this, you can keep the pen.