One of the few reasons to stay on Twitter over the last year or so has been the simmering feud between Huey Morgan and the ones he left behind, the remainder of the Fun Lovin’ Criminals.
It’s obvious there has been a major falling out and Huey has been quick to attack the others as “a money grab” and “a corny tribute band”, giving the impression that they are in any way a worthy functioning act. He’s also keen to point out that they were not quick to mention that Morgan was no longer part of their set-up whilst in the process of trying to sell tickets.
It was my great misfortune to see the so-called, watered down version of FLC last December, and it’s fair to say they were an absolute travesty.
So I was enthused to hear that Huey was putting his money where his mouth was, strapping the guitar back on, and getting back out there, trying to reclaim his throne, and more importantly those songs, billing himself as “THE Fun Lovin Criminal”.
And it’s an iconic venue he’s chosen, made famous by some pop group or other, and one that’s been sold out for quite a while (something of an achievement in itself for a Wednesday night in Liverpool).
But first…
Tonight’s support band was Alias Kid, an unusual choice, presumably happening as they are signed to Alan McGee’s label, and it’s his management team that are looking after Huey these days. We catch them halfway through their set, finding us begging the question, are we now to be re-ingulfed by average Mancunian guitar bands on the back of Oasis reforming? Their schtick of pretend onstage squabbling with drawn out guitar solos…it’s all been done so much better before. For a band that have seemingly been going for years they are acting like one that is just starting out, a bit too clichéd and you can understand why they’ve never taken off.
As something of an antidote to what’s just happened, what the kids would describe as a hype-man comes out to spin some tunes to get the crowd going (Hello, The Ting Tings, it’s been a while), ending his mini set with Sinatra‘s ‘New York, New York‘, which has a special resonance on this date more than any other.
Huey is ferociously cheered onto the stage and he looks genuinely surprised and blown away by the reception he and his band receive before sinking his teeth straight into his theme tune for the evening ‘Fun Lovin Criminal’.’ The “stick ’em up punk, it’s the fun loving criminal’” chorus has never been sung with such gusto by both Morgan and the crowd.
‘Loco’ sees the first of many guitar show-off sessions – a tool he does utilise quite a bit tonight – and even as a hater of guitar solos, it’s done with such a panache that it’s easily forgivable. He is very ably backed with a full band of interesting-looking characters with what looks like the doubles of both Mick Fleetwood on bass and Roy Wood on keys.
For the first few songs he received an ovation after each song, with shouts of “Huey, Huey” ringing round the Cavern and he looks delighted to be playing these songs again, a damn sight more than his uninterested ex-band members did.
It’s all FLC songs for the main set; there’s a crowd call and response for both ‘King of New York’ and ‘Love Unlimited’, with lesser known non-singles such as ‘The View Belongs To Everyone” and the cheeky ‘Smoke ‘Em’ garnering an equally respectful audience reaction. ‘Scooby Snacks’ is the absolute riot you would hope it would be, Huey’s big grin widening across his face before declaring “that I should take four years off more often”, before a barnstorming ‘Big Night Out’ sees them disappear for a few minutes rest.
He seems to be revelling in this opportunity to use this back catalogue as some sort of retaliation to those recent events. His soul resides in these stories of his life and it’s one that he claims to have written “when I was 12 or 13.” The early-ish single ‘Korean Bodega’ that heralds the beginning of the five-song encore which sees him try out a couple of old/new songs (they were originally on his 2012 Huey And The Healers album, but he is bringing them back for an upcoming solo record).
Proceedings are brought to a conclusion with a flawless, goose-bump inducing cover of Louis Armstrong‘s “We Have All The Time In The World”, and he promises to come and see us all again next year. In the battle of the Criminals, it’s been an easy win for this undisputed King of New York.
