Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Glasgow review: 'an understated halfway house'
Part concert and part monologue, this show was pleasing enough on both counts but also something of a compromise, writes Fiona Shepherd
Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall ★★★
The man born Steven Demetre Georgiou has gone by a handful of names in his 77 years. Best known as singer/songwriter Cat Stevens throughout the Seventies, then as Yusuf Islam following his conversion to Islam, then simply Yusuf when he returned to commercial music 20 years ago, he is now going by a slightly awkward hybrid for this tour to promote his new memoir Cat on the Road to Findout.
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As the title suggests, the prevailing theme of his life story is seeking. His faith, belief, philosophy is a process and he appears as willing to learn as he is to teach and impart. Stevens’ thoughts are deep and discerning while his songs are simple and searching. Strolling onstage, strumming and singing Miles From Nowhere from his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman, he set the low-key tone for this two-hour distillation of his life and work.
He proved a gentle, even halting host as he recounted his early years growing up in the heart of London’s west end theatreland, his catholic education and the earthquake impact of The Beatles. Songs from his back catalogue were dropped in at opportune moments, sometimes solo, sometimes with subtle backing from Kwami Yeboah and Eric Appapoulay and often abridged, while the entire show was embellished with Stevens’ own drawings and animations.
What emerged was an understated halfway house between concert and monologue. Like his explanation of his Buddha & the Chocolate Box album title, it was “somewhere between the spiritual and the material”, pleasing enough on both counts but also something of a compromise. However, the rare opportunity to hear gems such as The First Cut is the Deepest, Trouble and Oh Very Young rendered sincerely by their composer was to be cherished and by the end of the show, everyone was aboard his Peace Train.
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