Nick Lowe @ Maxwell's: The Jesus of Cool Returns

To finish off my five gigs in four night extravaganza on Friday night, I garnered up enough awake time to see a true legend in music, Mr. Nick Lowe. To the general populous, he's the man behind "Cruel to be Kind," but to those in the know, he's one of the most important writers, producers and performers in late 70s British music.

So seeing him at Maxwell's was a major happening, even if it was just him and a guitar. He played for a good hour and some change and he was engaging to say the least. You kind of have to pinch yourself when your within feet one of the greats.

The setlist:

• People Change
• Soulful Wind
• When I Write the Book
• What's Shakin' on the Hill
• Long Limbed Girl
• Lately I've Let Things Slide
• Has She Got a Friend
• All Men Are Liars
• I Trained Her To Love Me
• I Read A Lot
• My Heart Hurts
• Man That I've Become
• I Live on a Battlefield
• Without Love
• Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
• Shelley My Love
• I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock And Roll
• What's So Funny About (Peace, Love and Understanding)
• Heart of the City
• Encore: Beast in Me
• Seven Nights to Rock

As you can see, The Basher delved into his well-known songs, as well his recent songs from At My Age. His best-known album, Jesus of Cool, got a fancy new reissue via Yep Roc records, home of Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, Robyn Hitchcock and Bob Mould.

You do have to acknowledge Nick Lowe's place in music history. Beyond his own catalog of finely crafted songs with brilliant lyrics, without Lowe there would be no Elvis Costello. Then we would be in a world with no Armed Forces, This Year's Model or My Aim Is True. Just check out his biography and you'll see the man has been a success through out his 40-year career. What's So Funny About (Peace, Love and Understanding) and Cruel to be Kind are two of the best pop songs of all time.

With that in mind, it was a treat to see the man stripped down to him and his guitar, so you can appreciate his storytelling songwriting and sometimes witty lyrics. You can tell that he held the crowd's attention because it was silent when he was playing and then broke in thunderous applause when he played his better known tracks. His banter was brief, but he explained that this was his first visit to Hoboken, home of Sinatra.

I think I just dug being there and seeing him. He could have sat on a chair and read his lyrics and I would have thought it was amazing. In any event, the stripped-down show was a good tribute to the man and how he shows no sign of slowing down.

The Basher brought out some of my favorite locals -- comedian Todd Barry, Ira and Georgia of Yo La Tengo and WFMU's Glen Jones. Come on, how often are you going see a Nick Lowe-type legend in such a small place? As a side note, I caught a few songs from opener, Bill Kirchen, who graduated Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan with a man by the name of James Osterberg.