The Mark Lanegan Band at the Gramercy Theatre

Mark Lanegan

Mark Lanegan was born and raised in Ellensburg, Washington, a small logging town 107 miles east of Seattle. As a teen-ager, he was a high-school quarterback but he also had a police record, arrested several times for public drunkenness, shoplifting and drug possession; the last time he was arrested, he dodged incarceration by vowing to participate in a year-long rehabilitation course. Lanegan worked picking peas, building fences and working in a video store where his first band, the Screaming Trees, also rehearsed starting in 1984. The Screaming Trees moved to Seattle and wound up among the pioneers of the grunge scene until the band split in 2000. Lanegan also joined Mad Season, Queens of the Stone Age and the Gutter Twins, and worked on numerous collaborations. Lanegan's 10th solo album, Gargoyle, was the fourth attributed to the Mark Lanegan Band and was released on April 28, 2017. Lanegan currently is based in the greater Los Angeles area of California.

The stage at the Gramercy Theatre was bathed in dark blue and red back lighting all night, making visibility more of a mystery than a reality. For most of the set, the audience saw Lanegan's silhouette with an rare partial view of his face. The music was similarly deep, dark and mysterious, with Lanegan's gruff, talky baritone seemingly cutting through boisterous, booming accompaniment from his band. Lanegan barely moved on stage, and his singing paralleled his calm, foreboding demeanor, while his band chugged bombastic pairs of chords. Of the 18 songs performed, all but two originated from Mark Lanegan or Mark Lanegan Band albums; the exceptions were "Deepest Shade" from his days with the Twilight Singers and a cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Perhaps this was because Lanegan has moved far from the grungy psychedelic sound of the Screaming Trees and has moved closer to the Cure/Smiths breed of bleakness. Nevertheless, though light seems to be Lanegan's nemesis, someone ought to remind him that fans pay good money to see him, not just hear him, so silhouettes are insufficient.

Visit Mark Lanegan at www.marklanegan.com.

Setlist

1. Death's Head Tattoo
2. The Gravedigger's Song
3. Riot in My House
4. No Bells on Sunday
5. Hit the City
6. Emperor
7. Nocturne
8. Goodbye to Beauty
9. Beehive
10. Ode to Sad Disco
11. Harborview Hospital
12. Deepest Shade (The Twilight Singers cover)
13. Harvest Home
14. Floor of the Ocean
15. One Hundred Days
16. Head
17. Methamphetamine Blues

Encore:

1. One Way Street
2. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)