On Thursday 29th October 2009 Mark Ronson and Georgina Chapman were honoured at the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center Fall Masquerade Gala at Alice Tully Hall for an outstanding contribution to music. Considering their catalogue of achievements it is hardly surprising the pair received the nominations – although Ronson claimed it was strange to receive the prestigious award so early in his career.
The night was attended by the highest of New York society, including Ronson’s entire family. Forgetting the glitz and glamour (tickets were $255-455!!!!), when Daniel Merriweather began to sing after the awards were handed out, everyone was on the same level (at least that is what I told myself). Opening with “Chainsaw” Merriweather’s voice soulfully glided out into the grand auditorium at Alice Tully Hall and the audience were left in awe. I can imagine much of the audience were unfamiliar with the material as his album is only just being released in the US.
Following “Chainsaw” was Cigarettes, a song that seemed almost semi-comical as he belted out ‘my clothes smell like cigarettes, and they used to smell like you’ – not the best lyrics, but he could sing anything and it would sound good. Perhaps it was the multi-million dollar acoustics of the newly renovated Lincoln Center, but Merriweather sounds even more astonishing live than on record. To the point where I felt wythes of jealously ride over my goosebumps as I wish I could sound that smooth.
Smooth, however, would not be the world to describe his between-song banter. Instead, he could not stop swearing and making remarks such as, ’sorry I forgot you lot are meant to be respectable’ and ‘perhaps I should have worn a tux?’ Ronson warned him about his rough language (perhaps semi-seriously, having been brought up in these circles), however Merriweather just retorted, ‘I can’t help it, I’m Australian’. Then, as he grabbed his drink he continued in the same vein, ‘once a wise man told me whiskey could solve all your problems’. Ronson quickly replied, ‘I didn’t put it quite like that’. The audience appreciated Ronson’s quick-wit and awarded him with a raucous laughter.
The light mood then took a decidedly sharp turn as Merriweather announced, ‘this next song is about War’. Despite the rhetoric that “Red” was about ‘War’ (I mean, what does that mean..), the song was seriously engrossing. As he sang out ‘I can’t do this by myself, you took something perfect and painted it red’, I was hooked to every soulful inflection in his voice. Seriously, because he aligned it to war, I am now signed up to all the anti-war demonstrations out there. And please come with me, because I cant do it by myself… Ok, perhaps singing songs against war works???
Too deep. Anyway, thank God for the appearance of ‘Stop Me’, the original Ronson-produced hit that plagued the British charts for weeks. Soon I was feeling happily home-sick for the UK, and ready to get back to the champagne and oeuvre-de-what-are-they-called-again. What a rare treat to catch such an intimate performance by Daniel Merriweather this side of the Atlantic, especially considering he is not coming back for a while. However, for those that are lucky enough to have him in town soon, do not miss the opportunity to let him entrance you, like he did to me. Oh, and congrats to Mark Ronson.
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