The Verve Comes to the U.S.

The Verve is one of history’s underrated bands. No one really thinks about them, but every once in a while you come across a piece of information that makes you really want to listen to them. For example: Oasis mastermind and brilliant egoist Noel Gallagher has a soft spot for Verve front man Richard Ashcroft, for whom he wrote the sympathetic number “Cast No Shadow” off of Oasis’ second release, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. Or there’s the fact that the band broke up twice following some very in-depth partying on gargantuan amounts of drugs. Then there is the fact that the band’s most commercially successful song, “Bittersweet Symphony,” was ranked by Rolling Stone as the 382nd greatest song of all time, and by NME as the 18th greatest indie anthem ever.

Tragically, this brings us to what The Verve is most known for, i.e. being trodden upon by a different Rolling Stone – specifically the Rolling Stones’ back catalogue owners, ABKCO Records – over the rights to “Bittersweet Symphony.” As the story goes (read: as Wikipedia states), The Verve successfully obtained the rights to use a sample from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s re-recording of the Rolling Stones’ 1965 song “The Last Time,” which they looped to form the foundation of the song. After hearing the song, ABKCO Records owner Allen Klein decided the band had used “too much” of the recording, and in a last-minute verbal agreement with the band, slashed the band’s take down to 50% of the royalties. Then, upon discovering that the song was a huge international hit, Klein further cranked the band’s cut down to zilch percent, retaining 100% of the royalties for ABKCO and giving songwriting credits to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Klein’s people further pissed on the Pope by allowing ABKCO full licensing rights, tossing the song to the commercial hounds several times, including for a Nike commercial and a car commercial. This disheartening act is likely one of the factors playing into The Verve’s second breakup in 1999, and it is reported (Wikipedia, again) that the band didn’t make a dime from the song.

It’s welcome tidings, then, that Music-News reported Tuesday that The Verve will be playing dates in the U.S. surrounding their Coachella gig. After reforming in July 2007 they’ve kept a relatively low profile, so in order to get attention it was either start sporting beehive hairdos, or this. I’m glad they chose this.

The tour dates so far:

04/23 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
04/25 - Indio, CA - Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
04/26 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl Concert Theater
04/28 - New York, NY - WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden
04/29 - New York, NY - WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden
05/01 - Toronto, ON - Ricoh Coliseum


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