“Now I know how Dylan felt.”
These were the astonishing words of Yusuf Islam — or Cat Stevens, as he was once known — after he was confronted by the angriest, most hostile audience yours truly has ever witnessed at a major show. (He was, of course, referring to the incident at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, when Bob Dylan “went electric,” much to the chagrin of the folk purists).
In fairness, the anger wasn’t directed at the sometimes controversial, Muslim singer-songwriter himself (and no-one shouted Judas) but at the inclusion of excerpts from Moonshadow - The Musical – an excruciating, West End-style production that took up the bulk of the second half of this sold-out show.
It had all started out so well. Strumming his guitar, Yusuf had walked out onstage to a massive cheer for the first show of his first tour in over 30 years. He was gradually joined by more musicians – two guitarists, a double bass player — and from there on the sound expanded, and the drapes were lifted to reveal the full band. An early highlight was reached during a terrific version of ‘Sitting’ which saw the band and singer firing on all cylinders and the crowd responding with rapturous appreciation.
Then, after only eight songs we entered the twilight zone. The “musical” was a bizarre mix of Mamma Mia and High School Musical with a touch of Fiddler on the Roof. The narrative involved some sort of coming-of-age yarn, part-spoken, part-sung, with snippets of Stevens’ songs interspersed throughout. They included, ‘Matthew and Son’, (‘Remember The Days of the) Old School Yard’ and ‘Wild World’. Apart from a few lines sung and spoken, Yusuf was absent for most of this segment.
You could sense the restlessness growing among the crowd. Within minutes the slow-handclaps grew louder, while the booing, hissing and whistling eventually drowned out the actors. Scores of people walked out. One guy marched up to the stage, giving it two fingers before departing. A girl walked up attempting to talk to Yusuf but was led away by a security guard. Stewards were surrounded by angry people brandishing tickets. It was a nasty scene. Word obviously got back to Yusuf and he arrived out onstage pleading, “Don’t leave me – I haven’t left you. I told you I was giving you a show and a half”. He somewhat rescued things with a lovely reading of ‘Moonshadow’ but you got the feeling it was too little, too late.
The real tragedy was, this had the makings of a fantastic show. The band was brilliant, the sound quality near-perfect, while the visuals were spectacular. Stevens/Islam was in great form and in great voice; he was funny too, joking about his refused entry to US in 2004 and a drug-taking experience he had while touring with Jimi Hendrix.
But there just wasn’t enough of him, and the set-list was too heavily skewed towards his most recent albums. (He didn’t play ‘Wild World’, ‘Oh Very Young’, ‘Morning Has Broken’ or ‘Hard-Headed Woman’)
For the encore, the worst-kept secret all night was revealed as Ronan Keating joined him for an uplifting duet on ‘Father & Son’ which at least partly redeemed the night.
His final words: “I hope you got what you wanted”