Cat Stevens was apologetic
to his capacity Edinburgh audience at
the Usher Hall. Things had gone wrong.
There had been technical hitches, though
hardly on a drastic scale.
"All
the problems we’ve been having .
. . they’re not the fault of the
boys backstage, it’s not my fault,
it’s not your fault. It’s God's
fault!"
Still,
somebody up there gave this concert a
blessing because the public obviously
relished every minute of it. Moonshadow
picture show and all. Cat was in fine,
relaxed form. He told us he’d spent
the day sightseeing. He’d got a red
nose in the cold but he loved the museums
and he’d been knocked out to find
so many "very old things still working".
He felt he owed this audience something
and it showed.
Mainly
familiar material but things we were hearing
live in this city for the fist time. "Where
Do The Children Play?" was an effective
opener and "Trouble," with restrained
guitar support from Alun Davies and Alan
James suggested that the technical bods
for all the hassles had all but mastered
the acoustics in this hall.
The
conservationists lapped up "King
Of Trees", a song, Cat explained,
he’d attempted to put on his current
album but it hadn’t worked out. It
worked here and it was when the applause
had subsided that Cat swiveled
round in his chair and asked.’’
What do you do when you discover your
flies are open and you’re playing
piano with both hands?"
His
performance has charm and, whenever required,
power as well as humour. You could rate
it a triumph, hassles and all.
