Last Shadow Puppets, we hardly knew ye
Kevin Bronson on
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Before Monday night, I was only vaguely familiar with the music of the Last Shadow Puppets, the side project of 22-year-olds Alex Turner (the Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (the Rascals) and producer-composer James Ford. Their album “The Age of Understatement” was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and their glowing press from across the Atlantic only added to Turner’s growing legend.
But it wasn’t hard Monday at downtown’s Mayan Theatre to feel like a old friend. Backed by a 15-piece (if I counted correctly) orchestra, the Last Shadow Puppets treated fans to a 70-minute cinematic spectacle that had all the trappings of a heart-wrenching emotional farewell, even if the project has been around barely a year. True, it was the Puppets’ last dance for the foreseeable future, since Turner and Kane [pictured] now return to work with their respective bands. That they apparently connected with their fans do deeply in such a short period of time is remarkable.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that, with their mop-tops and dark suits and ties, Turner and Kane projected the aura of the Fab Two. Their cover of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” was so good it was eerie. In between their harmony- and string-laden numbers — it’s hard to compartmentalize what they do, but I thought of it as soundtrack music for a movie that doesn’t exist — they charmed the accoutrements right off the fans up front. Turner and Kane comically jousted when a bracelet was chucked onstage; for whom was it intended?
No matter. All that was missing from this going-away party was a big “Good Luck” banner. And even if the Shadow Puppets end up being a footnote in the principals careers, it’s a pretty notable one.
Great taste in cover versions, those two.. try and check out ‘Wondrous Place’, their take on a Billy Fury classic, plus early David Bowie, ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’. I didn’t reckon ‘The Age of Understatement’ as a single, but once I’d made my way to the album, I was more than impressed.