Will Oldham’s live performances vary between beautiful readings of his inimitable and increasing cherished songs and Bob Dylan style audience-baiting maulings of fan favourites. Both sides of the Bonnie Prince are recorded here. The opener is a rollicking version of the formerly acoustic ‘Master and Everyone’. This is one of Oldham’s most beautiful songs but here he tears through it as though he is playing in a pool hall of ill repute and is anxious to play hard and leave before he has the shit kicked out of him. The version of ‘I See a Darkness’ is wonderfully intimate. This song is one of Bonnie’s finest. Here it is spun out into a funereal web of guitar and piano that is both oppressive and uplifting. ‘Death to Everyone’ is turned into a swampy rocker that elicits whoops of delight in the face of death from the audience. Another highlight is ‘Beast for Thee’ from Oldham’s Superwolf project. This tale of unending love, servitude and retarded sexuality continues to spellbind every time I hear it.Ultimately this live album is pure Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the sound of one man doing his own thing and yet somehow writing some of the most wonderful songs of the last twenty years. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
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