Dawn and Kevin

Whenever Paul Weller is in town, we make a point of going to see him.  It’s truly a treat to see such a huge talent at one of our favorite venues, The Union Transfer in Philadelphia.

Doors opened at 8 p.m. but we made our way to Philly by 6:15 p.m., and ended up about 15th in line, which was very surprising as we truly believed it would be far more crowded by that time. We could have had rail, but instead opted for the slightly elevated section to the side, which would give us a perfect view over the crowd pressed against the stage.  Immediately we noticed that the floor was not very crowded and were surprised that this show had not sold out.  With a capacity of about 1,000, I’d estimate that there were just 800 attendees, and I firmly believe that Paul was disappointed in the crowd.

That’s not to say that the show wasn’t fantastic; the band is playing so well and the new songs sounded great. But, Paul seemed somewhat annoyed and distant throughout the show, and actually had a look of disdain on his face when playing “My Ever Changing Moods”.  It’s understandable that he doesn’t want to play his older songs while touring in support of a new record, but people love to hear it.

When the show ended, I was fortunate to get a setlist from the guys at the soundboard as well as one of Paul’s picks from the roadies on stage.  We grabbed a beer at the bar, then made our way out to the car, going the long way around just to see if he had left yet.  There was a crowd of about 12 people waiting, so it was obvious he hadn’t come out yet.  It was now 11:30p.m., and we decided to give it til midnight to see if he’d come out for photos / autographs.  We were chatting with other people who were waiting but as it got later, people started to give up and by midnight, there were only about 6 of us left. We were about to call it a night when a Philly cab pulled up in the alley beside us and one of Paul’s people told the driver that “he’d be out in a few minutes”  We had no idea who he was referring to, but decided to wait a few more minutes just to see.

Our patience was somewhat rewarded as Paul emerged from the venue about 10 minutes later, but refused to sign any autographs or allow pictures.  He jumped into the cab with a scowl on his face and was whisked away into the night.  One of the other people who had been waiting was incensed by this behavior and jumped into his own car, and floored it, chasing after the cab, nearly hitting some of the people standing there.  One of Paul’s security guys ended up throwing a full can of beer at the idiot’s car, and radioed to someone about the disturbance.

It was truly a bizarre ending to what had been an enjoyable evening seeing a great talent who was in a foul mood in a gorgeous and small room.