Eli 'Paperboy' Reed and the True Loves – Rough Trade East, London 22/07/08

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Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and the True Loves are in London in the middle of a string of small venue dates after appearing at Latitude before moving up north for a couple more, and tonight generously turned out for a free set at Rough Trade East. Although criminally poorly attended, it was a great chance to check out Eli and the lads. And after enjoying his storming new release, I can confirm he’s certainly the real deal live. They belted out about eight numbers, three of which are not on Roll With You, finishing off with a nice off the wall touch – a rock’n’roll style cover of ‘The Ace Of Spades’. Just about as loud as Lemmy would have liked too. Eli was rocking a pair of purple suede shoes and what looked like a tasty vintage guitar (though I know nothing about guitars), and was happy to jam along with classic tunes blaring out from the Rough Trade P.A. system while waiting for more punters to show.

The True Loves let him take centre stage, with only drummer Andy Bauer showing much extrovert fizz. I always enjoy a drummer getting a big sound out of a small kit. To be fair to the others, there wasn’t much room to manouvre on the small stage. I was certainly glad I’d been one of those to make the effort. The Shoreditch pubs were spilling out drinkers onto the street in the warm evening as I started to make my way home. So that was where all the cool people were then. Fools. A round of applause for the Rough Trade’s series of free shows to celebrate their 1st anniversary in Brick Lane.

Links
Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves [official site] [myspace] [TLOBF album review]