Cutting Edge (Belgium)
Original text appears at:
http://www.cuttingedge.be/reviews/gigs/twilightsingers040115.html

by Wim Duysburgh

Is there life after The Afghan Whigs? It has been quiet for quite a while on the Greg Dulli front, until he came back with his new band The Twilight Singers in 2000. A few months after the release of their second album “Blackberry Belle”, the Singers embark on their first tour since 2000. The Kick off of the European tour at AB is also their very first show in Belgium. In the red glow of the ABbox, with lights twinkling like stars, we really seem to be in the twilight. Greg Dulli welcomes us and behaves as a true gentleman. Black out the windows, it’s party time! Only halfway through their opening song Dulli’s charismatic stage appearance already wins us over. If only I had known this while The Afghan Whigs were still around! It has to be said: for a white man with a belly, he’s got a lot of soul.

The Twilight show often sounds like a mash-up. Other people’s lyrics are intertwined with their own songs or with Whigs-classics. As soon as they’re warmed up, the big medley show breaks loose. John Coltrane’s “A love supreme” and “All you need is love” lead to the wry rocking “Love”. For a few seconds we hear Steve Miller’s “The joker”, but then Dulli slows down, his eternal cigarette lit. He takes us back to his very first time at AB with the Whigs, almost exactly ten years ago. “If I were going”, the opener back then, is launched and shades into the new song “Martin Eden”. Again, it’s remarkable how much The Twilight Singers sound like the early Afghan Whigs. Dulli easily captivates the ABbox with “It’s the time of the season for loving Brussels” as a farewell.

Initially, it is just Dulli who returns for the encores, with a quiet version of “Love”. He thinks we’re a rather polite audience: “Don’t you ever freak out like Germans do?” No we don’t, we let The Twilights Singers do what they do best. They pick up the medley show again as they mix “Sara” and “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac with the Whigs’ “Uptown again”. They surprise friend and foe with their cover of Outkast’s “Hey ya”. The crowd goes nuts and for a while the ABbox is just too small. During the break Dulli accuses Outkast of plagiarism, for it fits perfectly in the Whigs-song “66”. Master chef Dulli adds his secret ingredient: a pinch of “Little red corvette”. He then finishes this impressive set off with “Summertime” by Stereophonics, followed by “Faded”, another Whigs song. The respect of the crowd is appreciated by Dulli and as the curtain falls, he takes a humble bow. When darkness falls, the race is through.