Will covers R; so why can't R cover Will? Photo: Ed Katz/AP
One of the joys of concert-going, as well as the chance to sing tunelessly along with a massed chorus of fellow fans and emit high-pitched whoops between songs, is the unlikely cover version.
Unless the performers you're seeing are natural or well-rehearsed showmen - and in the age of indie, this is rare - there can be something a little anti-climactic about watching a team of accomplished musicians reproduce almost exactly the record which inspired you to buy your ticket. It's a little like listening to a CD, but in slightly more uncomfortable circumstances.
A few performers - such as musical magpie Beck - will radically re-think the recorded arrangements of their music, making your aural experience new by rehearsing the languid love song on your CD as a thrash metal assault. But an unexpected cover version dropped into a set of old favourites is a reliable fillip for any performer.
A somewhat perfunctory set by David Byrne a few years back was lifted enormously by the former Talking Head's take on Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance (With Somebody), a song it turned out his nasal yodel was born to interpret. Travis's mightily efficient live act was given added lustre in recent times by their version of Britney Spears's Hit Me Baby (One More Time), revealing what might have been dismissed by rock fans as empty bubblegum to be a supremely well-crafted power ballad.
Currently on perma-tour, the puppyish Magic Numbers enhance their already considerable charms with a similar trick. In a drum-free acoustic interlude in the middle of their current set, the 'Numbers flourish a sweet, mid-tempo folk tune in the same hopelessly romantic vein as their own material. This turns out to be a terrific reinvention of Beyoncé's storming floor-filler Crazy in Love.
Will Oldham is something of a master at this art. In the past he has managed to reinterpret songs by artists as far from his own stark Southern oeuvre as Mariah Carey, Prince and R Kelly. (It's a source of bitter regret that I have never heard his take on Kelly's fantastic Ignition.)
This week, as a pendant to a magnificent showcase of his ambient metal Superwolf album (with Matt Sweeney under his Bonnie "Prince" Billy alias), Oldham delighted his audience at the Forum by choosing a Bee Gees number for his encore.
It's just a shame this trick seems only to be practised by guitar bands borrowing from the pop/dance world. I would pay a lot of money to see R Kelly covering Will Oldham's A King at Night.
