Sometimes a gig is more than just a gig. Sometimes there are performances that feel like true events, absolute one-off moments that make you thankful that you were there to witness them.
Just walking into The Roundhouse tonight for Mark Lanegan 60 A Celebration, as this evening is billed, you’re aware that this is one such night. A queue snaking around the block, an excited but understandably reverential crowd, and a star-studded cast that will surely never be assembled again all coalesce into a truly special atmosphere.
This coming February it will be three years since the world lost Mark Lanegan, solo artist, poet, member of such luminary bands as Screaming Trees, The Gutter Twins and Queens of the Stone Age and one of the finest voices in popular music history. This evening, on what would have been his 60th birthday, on the site of his last ever UK performance, a host of artists pay tribute to his legacy by playing their personal favourite Lanegan songs.
Various members of Lanegan’s band from across the years – marshalled by Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen – do a sterling job of recapturing the breadth of his musical output; from the aching, yearning tones of Strange Religion to the raw, raucous, punky grunge of The Trees Change Has Come, if you’re a fan of all or any of his work, it’s beautifully brought back to life here.
The main talking point, of course, is the guest vocalists. Many of them are of a far higher profile than Lanegan himself ever was – it’s quite odd to see Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan casually amble onstage with the rest of the band with nothing more than a “hello” as the evening begins – but all seem to be both delighted to be here and almost overwhelmed by the material they are performing. At one point Gahan says, “That was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be” and you aren’t sure if he means emotionally, or technically, in trying to ape his friend’s unique, whiskey-soaked croon.
There are so many highlights: Gahan’s brooding Low at the start of the set, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie taking on Screaming Trees euphoric Sworn and Broken, The Kills’ Alison Mossheart’s slinky, seductive take on When Your Number Isn’t Up. Then there are the contributions from QOTSA’s Joshua Homme, who gives a tearjerking speech about how he wants One Hundred Days played at his funeral before telling us that Mark would have “Pretended to hate this evening”, and Afghan Whigs/Gutter Twins man Greg Dulli, Lanegan’s former room-mate, who tells us he’s going to “kick things up a notch” and brings pure rock energy to the evening when he kicks into Methamphetamine Blues.
The closest anyone gets to actually replicating Lanegan’s tone though, is when Duke Garwood stands alone with his guitar onstage and quietly plays High Life and I am the Wolf. His brooding, gruff, yet soaring tones bring silence to The Roundhouse.
It’s an incredible event, and all those present know it. And as great as all the guest vocalists are, it’s when the lights dim between the main set and the encore, and Lanegan’s voice suddenly fills the venue while photos of the man are projected on screens either side of the stage, that you realise exactly what we lost. No one has got close to the power, the gravitas, the pain and beauty of Mark Lanegan this evening, and you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone in current contemporary music who could.
As the entire cast fill the stage to take a curtain call after Dave Gahan closes with an excellent Hit the City, there are tears onstage and off for a special, much-missed talent. A wonderful, one-off evening for a genuinely one-off artist.