Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Concert date: 14.05.2016
Twenty-seven years ago, Martyn Jacques placed an ad in a magazine looking for a drummer and a bassist to put together a new band. And that’s how The Tiger Lillies were born, a masterful Brechtian punk cabaret that, all these years later, is still shaping the music scene with the same zeal as in the early days. Even though they’ve been around for years and have put out 37 albums in that time, they don’t change their style; they stay true to a tried-and-tested recipe, a blend of pre-war Berlin cabaret, anarchist opera and Romani music, while also channeling the voices of Bertolt Brecht and Jacques Brel. They haven’t gotten any worse with age, just more experienced, more refined and at times more laid-back. Those of us at this show at Kino Šiška certainly noticed that, as the trio came back after their 2012 visit. The crowd was big again this time, every seat taken. They set the pace of the evening by alternating calmer songs, which made up most of the set, with livelier ones, keeping the audience’s attention and enthusiasm going nonstop. Toward the end, they also granted a few requests from the most fired-up fans, who had brought along fan posters.
Martyn Jacques, who leaves the biggest mark on the band with his accordion, ukulele and excellent falsetto, with the other two members in the background, is also the author of their songs, or better said, their stories. Their music tells the stories of people on the social fringe, from alcoholics to murderers to prostitutes, who rarely find a place in more popular forms of music. In their tales, these lives are approached with black humor, in a tragicomic way, holding up a mirror to today’s society without any restraint or hesitation. That duality on stage is softened, though, by Martyn’s clown mask. At this show they devoted most of the repertoire to the musical production Songs from the Gutter – The Life of Edith Piaf, in which we strolled together through the dangerous corners of Paris and dropped in at joints of dubious reputation. Two songs definitely stood out: the cover of Non, Je ne regrette rien/No regrets, thanks to Martyn Jacques’s convincing vocals, and Beat The Pain, which deals with the last period of Edith Piaf’s life and easing her pain with morphine.
There was an intermission mid-show, which was handy for quenching everyone’s thirst, performers and audience alike, but it cost the show some momentum. I’d have liked one or two more lively songs, and more people on their feet, though most of the crowd was thrilled with the show anyway. The Tiger Lilies simply never disappoint, whether they play livelier or more laid-back, like this time. Their tales are still best heard live. In any other format we lose Martyn Jacques’s facial expressions on stage, which are key to interpreting the songs. So…come back soon.
words: Polona
photos: Klemen Udovč
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