Russell Crowe, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds - review

ALMOST eighteen years after last seeing Russell Crowe sing on stage – that occasion being when he and his friend Alan Doyle opened for Sting at a former church in London – on Thursday I shared an equally bizarre experience with four hundred others at his Indoor Garden Party when he performed at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.

After some huge dates in the likes of Pompeii, Rome and Sienna the Brudenell may seem an unlikely place to play but Crowe grew up watching the early seventies Leeds football team on TV, reportedly came close to buying the club a decade or so ago, and has performed in the city before so the clues are there.

Pre-show he said how much he was looking forward to the intensity that the intimate room would provide.

It started sedately enough with TV crews pottering about the car park among the early evening drinkers and the Yorkshire Tea wagon dispensing free brews until Crowe’s arrival prompted a mini-rush to catch a glimpse of the star.

Russell Crowe at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. Photo by Dave Lawrence

The Oscar winner remains one of the world’s most acclaimed actors with some iconic roles behind him – Master and Commander’s Captain Jack Aubrey, L.A. Confidential’s Bud White and Gladiator’s Maximus Decimus Meridius to name but a few.

Long before he was an actor though Crowe was a musician, and he’s not the first actor to admit that performing on stage in front of an audience offers an immediacy and thrill that the regimented process of movie making cannot.

A member of a several previous bands, Crowe is currently backed by The Gentleman Barbers some of whom he has played with for close to 30 years.

He describes the Indoor Garden Party as “an event, a band, a happening. It’s fluid. The personnel changes, but it’s always big. It’s like a festival where I gather people I admire, musicians and storytellers, and we put on a show” .

After the first few songs, he greeted the audience “Buona Sera, Buona Sera!”, which was inevitably greeted in a deadpan Yorkshire accent, “You’re in Leeds, mate”.

Crowe’s deep, bluesy voice proved more than capable of delivering an enjoyable show, but unsurprisingly - given his day job - his between songs chat and anecdotes were highly entertaining too.

A typical example would be Southampton, a song about being jilted by a woman who instead of accompanying him to Paris on a planned romantic break decided to travel alone to the Hampshire town instead. Hence the song’s mocking lyric “She took a ticket to Southampton over you”.

There was the upbeat Don’t Be So Unkind and the excellent One Good Year. Let Your Light Shine was another highlight.

Russell Crowe at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. Photo by Dave Lawrence

The evening provided a diverse choice of music and covered a variety of genres – a bit of country rock, some bluesy songs, some introspective singer/ songwriter material and a few cover versions.

Many of Crowe’s self-penned songs are inspired by life events, whether the aforementioned thwarted affair described in Southampton, attending a private viewing of the Sistine Chapel with his mother after his father died (Michaelangelo’s God), or receiving a treasured letter from Johnny Cash (You’re on My Mind).

As for covers, these included an admirable version of Leonard Cohen’s This Waltz, Dire Straits’ Romeo and Juliet and Yazoo’s Only You.

So, to answer Maximus’s famous question, “Are you not entertained?” this reviewer offers a thumbs up for what proved an unusual but thoroughly engaging and memorable evening.