Julian Cope in concert at the University of Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Originally published by L.S. Media. October 29th 2011.

L.S. Media Rating *****

There’s only one to describe Julian Cope when he is on form and that’s just stunning. Knowledgeable, eloquent and charming are more platitudes you could bandy around in his company but he might just give that wonderful shrug of the shoulders, pretend to glare at you from behind the dark glasses, but ultimately beam graciously at you before having enough and going back to playing music.

There is no doubting after all this time in the music business that Julian is a survivor, a man who can stand in front of a packed  audience at one of the great halls of learning and command attention with a well-placed anecdote here, a story that warms the cockles there and above all, you know every single one of them is true and much revelled in.

With no support to warm up the crowd it was left to one of the famous adopted sons of Liverpool to carry the night completely, and there really was never an issue as he ploughed through a set that would make lesser hearts balk at the idea. From the onset and tracks such as October Northern Set, the excellent No Hard Shoulder and the sublime Julian in the Underworld set a standard that he was never going to come down from, there would be no diminishing of passion as the night went on, this was Julian Cope at his very, very best.

Sprinkled between songs, Julian talked of some of the journeys he has undertaken, both personally and those long ones as he researched ides for his new book. If the songs that Julian interwove between these stories are an indication of what we might expect then the book is going to be explosive and mind blowing.

There was time for some wonderful imagery… truth be told there is always time for this, then the vocal crowd would have been in their element as Julian played songs such As the Beer Flows Over Me, the truly fantastic Cromwell in Ireland and the spellbinding Robert Mitchum in a set that flowed, almost seamlessly and had a packed Stanley Theatre acknowledging that their son was home, and what a show he gave as an offering.

A night of classic Cope, the man lives up to the legend tag effortlessly.

Ian D. Hall