With no opener we are plunged straight into the set from former Velvet Underground-er and long-time solo artist John Cale. Cale folds the diversity of his career into his set-list and as a result it is a guaranteed crowd pleaser as well as crowd-confuser. Running the gambit from sleepy tunes about how to treat a woman to kitschy spaced out energy to newer slightly more Americana influenced straightforward rock, he is constantly losing portions of the audience, but inevitably in some corner there is a huddle that is entirely on board.
There are plenty here who know nothing about the man aside from his VU fame and are decidely perplexed by the diversity of the set, but for the most part the audience seems at the very least intrigued to be a part of this often unpredictable ride. Personally I find myself more engaged by the layered, challenging and sometimes (too) lengthy soundscapes rather than the traditional songs, it doesn’t always work in either approach but at least there is more to contemplate with the former and in the weird versus boring stakes, weird wins out for me.
A Shot in the Dark 
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