Review: Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

Should value for money come into the equation when discussing live music performances? Opinion will differ on this but I for one was surprised when the door money was 10 € for a one-man-band with no support band. Upon questioning this I received the answer that this was his last time on tour ever.

To my regret, I didn't enjoy the gig either. On recording, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone sounds fresh but the live version was less up beat and not very varied. Additionally, the performance was boring to look at. Owen Ashworth was standing behind a set of keyboards, looking down at those and pressing buttons while singing - kind of like a DJ performance in slow motion.

I suppose die-hard fans who know the songs by heart didn't care. It was Owen Ashworth. He was playing his songs. It was their last chance to experience this. But it didn't convince me, who is fairly new to this artist.

And for this I did miss Sun Araw at West Germany and Geoff Farina at Madame Claude. Let's just hope it wasn't their last tours ever.