Marianne Faithfull wasn`t as angry this time as she was on her last tour. It was somewhat amusing watching her smile through the bitter `Why`d Ya Do It`. Yep, Marianne Faithfull comes across as happy these days.
What about that song `Why`d Ya Do It`? How would you like to be on the receiving end of that verbal abuse? Last night however smiled, in fact almost chuckled, as she sang the spew from the mouth of a jilted lover.
This show was very much a showcase for her most recent album ‘Easy Come Easy Go’. 10 of the 17 songs in the set were from the new album. Not that it mattered for Marianne. Every song is very much part of her personality.
She did span the entire career including a performance of her first hit ‘As Tears Go By’, recorded in 1964 when she was 17-years old. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote the song. Marianne went on to have that volatile affair with Jagger. She also did ‘Sister Morphine’, the other Stones connection with her past. She had a hand in writing that song with Jagger and Richards and originally released it as a b-side in 1969. A year later, The Stones released their version of the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album.
The ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ songs have kept Marianne contemporary. ‘Salvation’ is a Black Rebel Motorcycle song. ‘Dear God Please Help Me’ is from Morrissey.
Marianne also dedicated ‘Flandyke Shore’ to the late Kate McGarrigle who sang on the album version with her sister Anna. Kate, the mother of Martha and Rufus Wainwright, died last month.
‘Broken English’ was a highlight. It always is. “That song never dies because there is always a new war to sing about,” she said.
Here is the setlist from Marianne Faithfull at The Forum, Melbourne, February 5, 2010.
Times Square (from A Child’s Adventure, 1983)
Down From Dover (from Easy Come Easy Go, 2009)
The Crane Wife 3 (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Solitude (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Hold On, Hold On (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Flandyke Shore (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Broken English (from Broken English, 1979)
In Germany Before The War (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Crazy Love (from Before The Poison, 2005)
Kimbie (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Salvation (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Ballad Of Lucy Jordan (from Broken English, 1979)
Sister Morphine (b-side to Something Better, 1969)
As Tears Go By (original single 1964, re-recorded for Strange Weather, 1987)
Why’d Ya Do It (from Broken English, 1979)
Dear God Please Help Me (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
Sing Me Back Home (from Easy Come, Easy Go, 2009)
