Stuart Anthony & Musicians – An Evening With Jacques Brel – The Gregson, Lancaster – 9th May 2026

SATURDAY NIGHT IN LANCASTER

A first trip to The Gregson Community & Arts Centre in Lancaster and it’s an impressive lttle set up jam packed with all sorts of goings on. A quick stop off in the downstairs bar and then a trot upstairs to the Olive Room for tonight’s event, past the Main Hall where there’s another event on. The Gregson certainly is a hive of community activity witha strong communal vibe.

So much so that two of the band can walk to the gig. Second guitarist Ian Dicken arrives, dumps his duffel coat and straps on his guitar ready for work. Very Jimmy Page. Along with Matt Canty on bass and drummer Allan Gardner, the trio make up ‘the musicians’ that join Stuart ‘you can see my house from here’ Anthony whose name is the one on the ticket and whose long association with American poet/writer and general literary legend, Larry Beckett, has brought us here.

Tonight, the focus is on the Though We Have Only Love album. Stuart tells us the plan is to play through the album – no time tunneling to any of his other work with Beckett or The Long Lost Band – but in a style crafted by the two guitars/bass/drums line up.

A KICK UP THE PANTS

And it’s quite some stylist change from the care and polish of the album. Almost a shock as the rulebook is torn up and the already riffy Litany For A Return is given a kick up the pants and launched with a garage band assault. As Stuart explains, the album casts an eye on all aspects of love, emphasizing the visceral elements which Larry has teased out in his translations. Visceral – a word that surfaces on several more occasions as the quartet subvert and recreate in an upstairs room in Lancaster.

It briefly conjures up visions of the start of Dylan’s Never-Ending Tour back in 1988 when his similar stripped back band did what only Dylan can do to his iconic material, and give it a rough and ragged edge. And that’s the course the two sets take. Song Of The Old Lovers retains the Gallic ambien while The Next Lover has an almost Country swing and we try not to miss James Edge’s piano part. However, with the band stepping back to leave Stuart in the spotlight for an achingly and superbly delivered Don’t Walk Away – one of Brel’s most famous/recognisable songs in other forms – and a chance to take stock on a high note.

Larry himself then appears for a three song set at his piano in Portland, Oregon, via the wonders of technology. Stuart’s invite: “Like to say a few words?” is passed as he does his bit and takes his leave. A short and sweet cameo and one that the assembled can cherish, being in the virtual presence of such a iconic figure and a memory of his spoken word, world weary delivery on I Love You.

FRESH COATS

As Love Will Tear Us Apart fades from the PA, it seems quite apt that Tenderness then introduces the band’s second set; it may be the JD song still echoing around the brain, but the band seem to have injected a bit of Manchester Post Punk into the song around the “for a little tenderness” line, even a discrete Hooky bassline drifting in. A deliberate slowed down Madeleine, bass lines to the fore again as the accompaniment to Stuart’s guitar that he briefly threatens to urge into a Neil Young thrashing . Another example of the gentle sing-song arrangement from the album getting a fresh coat.

It’s left to the title track to close proceedings. The analogy is drawn The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love and the Sixties ideals of creating “a manifesto for love” the jangly guitar pop reminds us, as Stuart himself humbly does, that Though We Have Only Love is “a marvellous piece of work.” Confidence in what he and Larry have been at the sharp end of creating, and quite right too.

Stuart Anthony:  Website 

Larry Beckett: Website 

At The Barrier: Facebook / X  / Instagram