Nick Lowe

J Scott Strawn 04/16/2008 6:10:00 PM

Nick Lowe shined like the musical treasure he is Tuesday night at a nearly sold-out Boulder Theatre. In a pair of gray slacks and white, button-down oxford, Lowe's appearance is exactly like his music, apparently simply and straight forward, but just begin to scratch the surface and you find unexpected layers of wit, insight and immense talent. More or less abandoning (but not forgetting) his "Basher" image and coming across as a sophisticated British gentleman, Lowe belted out bits and pieces of his long and influential career while also delivering 6-7 songs of his 2007 release "At My Age." While his vocal delivery on his new CD is that of lounge singer (and a very good lounge singer at that), in concert his voice was strong and playful and showed no sign of age since his "Cruel to be Kind" days. Lowe displayed hints of his early, roots rock/rockabilly origins while performing some of his Rockpile ear hits ("Heart," "When I Write the Book") but also slipped easily into country, standard and pure pop mode. These shifts were seamless and seemingly performed effortlessly, another display of the depth of talent residing in the man. Lowe is a rock icon of immense proportions who doesn't get the respect or recongintion from the public he deserves. A highly, respected producer who worked on the first "Pretenders" album along with countless Elvis Costello recordings, Lowe brought down the house closing the show with "Peace, Love and Understanding," a composition he wrote which repeatedly becomes each generations "new" protest song. Three encores capped off a 90 plus minute set that went by much, much too fast.