Yusuf (Cat Stevens) – Botanic Park – Saturday 25 November 2017
Review by Geoff Jenke
The artist Yusuf, formally known as Cat Stevens graced Adelaide’s latest “IN” concert venue, Botanic Park on a warm and still evening. As Cat Stevens he sold millions of albums up until 1978 when he turned his back on music and the rock world. He told us that at one stage he was getting so many gold records for Tea for the Tillerman in Australia that he said to stop giving them to him.
Yusuf has returned to touring and releasing albums on his own terms, with this being the 50th anniversary of the release of Cat Stevens debut album, Matthew & Son, way back in 1967.
Yusuf quietly walked on stage and started Don’t Be So Shy from the 1972 movie soundtrack album, Harold and Maude, accompanied only by his and one other guitar. The stage was set up as the London West End Train Station (platform 9) with Yusuf telling the crowd “We were on time, but a certain train appears to be running late”. As the songs progressed so did the musicians on stage, although in the end he only had four musicians on stage with him. They were extremely talented multi instrumentalists, often interchanging instruments amongst themselves. I was quietly surprised as to how few musicians he had, expecting a larger number.
The first set of 18 songs was a mixture of well know hits and newer songs from his latest album, The Laughing Apple. The newer songs sat nicely alongside the older material. A surprise was Peace Train done as a blues number entitled Peace Train Blues from his Roadsinger album. He gave a nod to Rod Stewart for updating The First Cut Is the Deepest and followed it with his version of The Impressions, People Get Ready. He told us about his first ever single, I Love my Dog, “the song with strange lyrics” and how they have updated it with electric guitar. He also has updated (Remember the Days of the) Old School Yard, relocating it to Jamaica, hence a reggae version. The set concluded with another blues song, this time a cover of Jimmy Reed’s, Big Boss Man, with Yusuf then telling us they will be back after a short break.
Set two started with the song A Bad Night from 1967 album, New Masters. The stage had changed to reflect his attic. This set became a Cat Stevens/Yusuf history lesson with Yusuf telling stories about his songs and life. Songs generally became chronological, and included all the big hits in Wild World, Morning Has Broken, Moonshadow and Father and Son. Yusuf has lost none of the quality of his guitar playing and in his vocal ability. He told us how the son of a restaurant owner became a multi-million album seller. A young Cat Stevens wanted to play in the Beatles band and Yusuf even played a bit of The Beatles Twist and Shout on a record player on stage. The band followed this with their own version of The Beatles From Me to You with Yusuf even bowing at the end like the Beatles use to do. “How did they get so low?” he asked. The Beatles popped up again later in the set with the band doing a stellar version of Here Comes the Sun. There was also mention of a tour with Jimi Hendrix.
Yusuf introduced guitarist Alun Davies to the stage. Alun played with Cat Stevens from 1979 – 77 and has again been involved with Yusuf since his return to writing and performing in 2005. Alun supplied backing guitar and vocals to Yusuf for the second half of the set.
The set ended with Father and Son and Peace Train to an arousing reception. Both songs still as powerful today as when they were first written.
The encore consisted of Can’t Keep It In from 1972’s Catch Bull at Four album, Sam Cooke’s Another Saturday Night because “we should play it as it is Saturday Night” and Maybe There’s a World from the Yusuf album An Other Cup, which morphed into the Beatles All You Need Is Love.
Yusuf seemed very happy to be back on stage and the audience extremely happy to have him back on stage before them. A magical evening.
A bit of trivia to finish. Cat Stevens was booked and promoted to play at the Myponga Pop Festival way back in 1971, but pulled out at the last minute to perform in Las Vegas. Glad he didn’t cancel this concert.
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