En bamseklem av en konsert

The critic reviews the concert on Thursday, 13 November 2008, at Buddy in Drammen, the last on the tour (125 in the audience; the rating is based on the 45 minutes before the interval). The burly figure walks on, and the first five minutes go on praise for Drammen and an anecdote from Haugesund, where Leven slept instead of playing because his support slot for Madrugada fell through when Sivert Høyem had a sore throat. Then the 58-year-old Scot, “formerly of the band Doll by Doll”, finally gets going with his teddy-bear, fatherly voice and fine guitar playing.

“Another Man’s Rain” from Oh What a Blow That Phantom Dealt Me! opens the show “brilliantly”, followed by “My Old Home”. There is a song about Johnny Cash and what his thoughts at the end of his life might have been, which the critic finds “highly ordinary” with a train rhythm, and a musical high point about a single father opening with the lines “Let’s stand and drink in a damn good pub …”. A calmer song from the newest album brings Mark Knopfler faintly to mind. Before the interval Leven sings a “delightful ballad” by David Childers, “Heart in My Soul”. The loudest laugh of the night comes with a coarse joke about the Scot who appeared in a porn film.

The only objection: why echo effects at such a concert, which irritated in at least two songs; they did not spoil the pleasure of Leven’s mastery of guitar and words, “a teddy-bear hug and good stories from a big, kindly grandfather”. The photo caption speaks of Leven’s more or less ironic arrogance, with which he conveyed how fantastic his new album is and what a genius the Scot is. The critic hopes the “friend of Drammen” returns soon and tickets sell out again.