Review: CHILLY GONZALES, Royal Albert Hall

Jarvis Cocker singing torch version of Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer”? Peter Serafinowicz doing an Elvis Presley impression for half an hour? A rant about Richard Wagner? In the Royal Albert Hall on a rainy Monday night? Welcome to the world of Chilly Gonzales, one of the most fascinating musicians around as he comes to the capital to promote his latest collection Gonzo.

The Canadian-born musician’s backstory is less rag-to-riches and more rock-to-rap-to-record breaking pianist. Formally known as Jason Beck, this artist has defied expectations at every turn in his career from his earliest appearances on the tiny stage of Brick Lane’s 93 Feet East to one of London’s grandest venues. He has changed his style hugely over the years. In the early 2000s, he was the angry rangy rapper who left behind his indie rock band Son and a deal with Warner Brothers at the turn of the millenium to start afresh in Germany.

Soon after, he let his fingers do the talking and gained a whole new set of fans with his “neo-classical” album Solo Piano. A continuous 27-hour long piano concert in Paris broke a world record and led to global headlines and an engaging interview with David Frost. More recently, he has come full circle by collaborating with cult DJs Daft Punk on their album Random Access Memories (and getting a Grammy for his work) as well as indie rock’s favourite son Jarvis Cocker on 2017's Room 29, a song-cycle describing the happenings in a Hollywood hotel.

Having Serafinowicz open his concert is an odd move. The actor and comedian has a very recognisable voice - one of his earliest roles was voicing Darth Maul for the 1999 Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace - but here he ditches it for some version of Presley’s much-imitated Southern drawl. In a rhinestoned white jumpsuit unzipped down to his belly button and a shaggy wig, he pulls out some shonky shtick which starts off with early Elvis covers like “Hound Dog”, moves onto one of his latter hits via a sigh-worthy gag (“hey, South Kensington, is anyone here from the ghetto?”) before assaying and practically assaulting “Hotline Bling” by Drake (more on him later).  Next time: a little less Serafinowicz, a little more Gonzo, please

Gonzales is the first to admit that he is as much a persona as he is a musician, and it’s not just about his adopted names (he has also called himself The Entertainer and The President of the Berlin Underground in the past). He has a certain confident swagger as he comes on stage, a large clump of dark hair flopping down over his forehead, before he seats himself down in front of a grand piano.

Instead of his usual casual bathrobe gown and slippers, he gives off Dracula vibes in white dress shirt under a black sheer silk kimono, a possible nod to funky Gonzo track “Open The Kimono” which he plays as part of the encore. He is joined on stage by a band (Yannick Hiwat on violin, Stella le Page on cello and piano, Joe Flory on drums and vocals, and Taylor Savvy on bass) as he powers through highlights from Gonzo adding occasional commentary as he goes along.

One number that expresses particular ire is aimed at the German opera composer Richard Wagner. As a resident of Cologne, Gonzales (who is Jewish) lives near a road named after the writer of The Ring Cycle and infamous anti-Semite (“he wrote a book called Judaism In Music; spoiler: it’s rather negative”). Before and during the song “F*ck Wagner”, the singer tells us how he detests the man (“a motherf*cking monster”) and his descendants (“f*ck him and his Nazi granddaughter”) even if he is a fan of his works. Banging merrily away on a timpani, he opines that separating the man from the music is the only reasonable choice before dropping the mic on another musician (“Kanye West is the brand new Wagner”). 

To show how serious he is about this, Gonzales has gone as far as setting up an open letter to the city’s mayor and a petition on change.org titled “Goodbye Wagner” calling for the road to be renamed after someone he feels is more suitable. The person he has in mind is a famous singer who espoused more modern views and lived in Cologne for years: Tina Turner. That in turn leads to Cocker making an appearance and singing a beautifully laid back version of the Turner classic “Private Dancer”. He returns towards the end of the night for a rendition of Room 29’s “Tearjerker”, his warm Sheffield tones wrapped around lyrics such as “You are such a jerk/You are a tearjerker/You don't need a girlfriend/You need a social worker”. 

Chilly’s other artistic beef is with fellow Canadian rapper Drake. He recounts how, when living in the same building, Drake came over and heard some of Chilly’s piano playing. Soon after, as Chilly tells it, Drake put the entirety of “The Tourist” from Gonzales’ Solo Piano album on his own 2009 mixtape So Far So Good; there was no permission asked, no sampling, just a copy and paste with the popping sound from champagne bottles added. It took ten years before Drake gave him a Spotify credit with the song now attributed to “Drake (featuring Chilly Gonzales)”. “How can I be a featured artist on my own f*cking song?” is Gonzales’ not unreasonable conclusion.

There are some Kitty Yo-era deep cuts towards the end as he belts out “Take Me To Broadway and “So-Called Party Over There” from 2002’s Presidential Suite. Time has not thinned their power and having them fill the Royal Albert Hall over 20 years after hearing them rock an East End club is a sweet, sweet moment.

Read our interview with Chilly Gonzales here.

Chilly Gonzales continues on tour to Germany, France, Switzerland and Canada.

Photo credit: Wim Knuts

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