Nick Lowe puts on a masterclass in pop songwriting perfection

Seeing Nick Lowe perform live offers the chance to concentrate more on his songs than the typical listening experience allows. With his CDs spinning in the car or while at work — the two most common venues for listening now, unfortunately — other requirements keep me from giving him my full attention. At Saturday’s show at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, however, he was the main attraction, and as such, full immersion in his songs was easy.

I’ve long known he was great; I’ve been a fan since about 1984 when I picked up Labor of Lust on vinyl as a young teen and followed it up a year later with The Rose of England, thus cementing my fandom. But seeing him perform live for the second time last night, my appreciation for his craft bloomed. His songs sound deceptively simple, but they are the result of significant work to create breezy tunes. It takes a lot of work to appear this effortless.

The night began with a set of eight songs from keyboardist Geraint Watkins. He possesses a soulful voice and a rollicking style on the keys. He might benefit from a full band backing, but he doesn’t need it. Like fellow pianist Keith Jarrett, he accompanies himself with grunts and growls and humming that are a bit distracting at first, but which become endearingly simpatico as the set progresses. A mix of originals and covers, leavened with an occasional aside or tale, make this the perfect set for the self-proclaimed “Warmup Watkins.”

Lowe opened the show with three solo acoustic numbers, opening with the gorgeous new “Stoplight Roses,” following with the old gem “Heart” and the not-quite-so-old “What’s Shaking on the Hill.” The band then came out to join him, the first time he has been accompanied by anyone but Watkins on a tour of the U.S. in some time. Having seem him at this same venue several years ago in solo/duo form, it’s safe for me to say that while the first show was good, this one was spectacular. The band seemed to give Lowe more verve; where as a solo act he tends to perform with a bit of detachment, with the band he leaned into his songs and took things up a notch.

The set was predictable to a point, including plenty of material from the four albums that loosely constitute his “mature” period, but he threw some old gems in as well. “Raging Eyes” from The Abominable Showman was a treat, as was “Raining, Raining” from Nick the Knife. The latter lost the shuffle of the recorded version to become a melancholic reverie that seems to better fit the lyric.

Most of the high points of those later albums were hit, from “I Live on a Battlefield” and “Soulful Wind” from The Impossible Bird to a handful from his latest, At My Age. He also obliged with his hits, turning in “Cruel to be Kind,” “I Knew the Bride” and “Peace, Love and Understanding.” A couple more new songs (I can’t recall the title of the one he confirmed was new, though I can say that it isn’t the oft-performed “I Read a Lot”) rounded out the set. He even brought Watkins out to start the encore to perform a duet on the keyboardist’s lovely “Only a Rose.”

Through it all, deft wordplay and keen sense of melody of Lowe’s songs shone through. He is a master of the internal rhyme, with most of his lines so well-crafted that it’s easy to miss just how intricately constructed they are. “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide” is a prime example. “Smoking I once quit/ Now I’ve got one lit/ I just fell back into it” seems simple on the surface, but in three short, rhyming lines, Lowe conveys the way someone drops their guard and ceases to care after a relationship has ended. “That untouched takeaway/ I brought home the other day/ Has quite a lot to say,” he continues, again capturing that downward spiral with haiku-like mastery.

The result last night of seeing him sing these lines — and doing so with some of the most subtly sophisticated melodies in the business — was like sitting in on a masterclass in songwriting. That his performance amps up the entertainment factor significantly thanks to his droll, British wit and self-deprecating tales, just enhances the overall experience. It’s a gift to his fans that one of his generation’s best songwriters is also one of its better performers.

Lowe performs again tonight, and I’d be tempted to go again. However, I fear (know, really) those breezy asides and seemingly spontaneous quips are the well-turned work of a pro who has honed his bits to razor sharpness. Seeing the same set performed in the same way would shatter the  illusion. I’m content to pretend otherwise. Anyone who hasn’t had the experience, however, should do what they can to take it in. There’s little better out there on the road right now.