Jarvis Cocker enters the Forest of No Return - Meltdown Part 2

Jarvis Cocker and Guests - Royal Festival Hall, 17 June 2007

Forest of No Return - a tribute to Disney film music

(Click here for full photo album)

So it kicked off an hour later than it should have, and started with chronic sound problems, but this was Disney, so everything ended happily ever after. Few of the songs were done straight - some were almost unrecognisable - but it all worked pretty well, though there too many instrumentals for my liking

David Thomas made the first of several appearances, bare footed and behatted, with a brilliant pig-squealed I'm Late, which he later trumped with When I See an Elephant Fly and Pink Elephants on Parade - rarely in the history of rawk have performer and material been so perfectly matched:

Skye Edwards and Ed Harcourt paired up for a sweetly traditional Little April Showers:

Beth Orton applied her husky tones to Baby Mine, and later on bravely did Stay Awake acapella, in pin drop silence, followed by Second Star to the Right:

Jarvis himself made the first of several appearances with I Wanna Be Like You, complete with classic Jarvis electrocuted stick insect dance moves:

He later took the stage with Nick Cave, Pete Doherty and Shane MacGowan to make several minutes of howling doggy whining (billed on the programme as Home Sweet Home), surprisingly not nearly as self indulgent as it sounds:

Pete Doherty came back later for a sweet and touching solo Chim Chim Cheree, confounding expectation and reputation with one of the best performances of the evening:

And Shane MacGowan wandered unsteadily on to the stage for a shouty solo Zip-a-dee Doo Dah, his only unsupported appearance of the evening:

Roisin Murphy purred through He's a Tramp in a spectacular ruffled frock and huge Ascot hat:

But she was pipped to best frock honours by the frankly unbelievable Grace Jones, who closed the first half with Trust in Me as only Grace can, in a costume that needed a table and a wind machine to display it properly:

 

(Click here for loads more pics, including artists not mentioned above)

Comments

[Sam Dutton]

Frustrating because of the painful sound, late start and poor ventilation (in the balcony seats at least) but the best bits were magic.

David Thomas (beautiful/creepy) and Pete Doherty (if only they'd let him play solo!) were the highlights for me -- and Beth Orton did a lovely job of 'Baby Mine'.