David Cassidy In The News
David Cassidy, Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow
November 13, 2001
By John Williamson
The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland UK)
The problem here, and it is evident from the opening bars of I Can Feel Your Heart Beat, is that the limitations imposed by out-and-out pop music - the clothes, the tunes, and the words - do not sit comfortably with the 50-plus performer.
As part of an unlikely comeback that has yielded a top-10 Greatest Hits album and a sold-out tour, Cassidy at least seems aware of the absurdity of the situation. He pulls all the pop-star poses, but repeatedly tries to disguise them in a combination of self-deprecating asides and corny showmanship, picked up on the Vegas cabaret circuit, where he has been earning his crust in recent times.
In purely physical terms, Cassidy has aged well, and this, more than the music, allows him to strike up a bond with his older, though not all wiser, seventies teen audience. By the time his shirt is fully opened during the encore, there is a gentle rush towards the stage and opera glasses are utilised in even the front rows for a better look.
The desired impact - some screaming women - is consolidated by some anecdotes that centre on nostalgia for the early seventies and his hometown of New York.
He even manages strategically to position his biggest hits in the set. I Write The Songs, Cherish, I Think I Love You, and 1985's comeback single, The Last Kiss elicit the greatest enthusiasm, but, unlike many of his contemporaries, Cassidy seemed to be bypassed by anything resembling a truly classic pop song.
It is padded out by instrumental sections, highlighting the technique-over-feel nature of the band, and a brief foray into soul that is truly calamitous. Though the backing singer, Candace Davis-Martin, redeems River Deep Mountain High and Rescue Me.
Cassidy's heavy-handed take on Try a Little Tenderness epitomises the problem with the show. He may be entertaining for a while, but he is utterly, utterly soulless.
