A star-studded gig in tribute to the late Mark Lanegan took place in London last night (Thursday December 5) – featuring friends and collaborators Queens Of The Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Depeche Mode‘s Dave Gahan, Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie, Chrissie Hynde and many more. Check out photos, footage, the mammoth setlist and more below.
The former Screaming Trees frontman, QOTSA collaborator, grunge icon and solo pioneer passed away in February 2022 at the age of 57. To mark his passing on what would have been his 60th birthday, ‘Mark Lanegan 60 – A Celebration’ was held at London’s Roundhouse last night, the venue of his last live appearance in the city. Moving performances were also delivered by Greg Dulli, The Kills‘ Alison Mosshart, and Ed Harcourt, with Soulsavers featuring Troy Van Leeuwen acting as the house band for the evening.
After The Jesus & Mary Chain‘s ‘Just Like Honey’ faded out over the speakers, the performance was introduced by Lanegan’s rendition of ‘Oh! What A Beautiful City’ before Gahan and Soulsavers took to the stage for the opening covers of ‘Sideways In Reverse’, ‘Low’ and ‘Kingdoms Of Rain’, before peaking with the epic delivery of ‘Strange Religion’.
“Lots of other people are gonna sing tonight, and we can all think about Mark for a bit,” offered Gahan afterwards, “and now, Mr Bobby Gillespie – Mr G!”
The Primal Scream frontman then took to the stage to play “one of my favourite songs by Mark” in the form of ‘Driving Death Valley Blues’ before taking it to church with silky outings of ‘Pendulum’ and ‘Sworn And Broken’. He then introduced Mosshart of The Kills who joined Soulsavers for full-bodied takes on ‘Mockingbirds’, ‘Mud Pink Skag’, ‘When Your Number Isn’t Up’ and ‘Wedding Dress’.
Another highlight of the evening came when Soulsavers singers Wendi Rose, T Jae Cole and Janet Ramus (recently seen on the road with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) held the room enraptured by taking the lead. “This is our tribute to Mark,” they offered, “it’s called ‘Judgement Time’.”
After a tender and stripped-back performance of ‘I Am The Wolf’ from Duke Garwood, The Afghan Whigs and Gutter Twins icon Greg Dulli then made the first of various emotional appearances, promising to “kick it up a notch” with a raw and rollicking ‘Methamphetamine Blues’. “Right before the Trees signed to Epic, they put out a Sub Pop single,” he told the crowd. “When I heard it, I was like: ‘That is a bad ass song’, and I hope you agree.”
He then tore into ‘Change Has Come’ before ‘The Stations’ and ‘The River Rise’, ahead of Ed Harcourt taking the lead. “It’s an honour to be here and celebrate Mark and his legacy,” he told the crowd, before a grungey and stripped-back ‘One Way Street’, and then introducing “the irreplaceably incredible Ms Chrissie Hynde”.
“Oh Mark,” she said, taking to the stage, “Are you ready for this?”
Hynde’s emotional set of songs saw her joined by Lanegan’s widow Shelley Brien, who took a bow under the invitation of The Pretenders‘ icon to a rapturous applause of support from the sold-out crowd. “This is a sad night for Shelley Lanegan,” said Hynde, “but thank you for being here.”
After ‘Revelator’, QOTSA guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen then took to the mic to welcome “one of my best friends” Homme who then delivered a suite of tracks. “As someone who got the pleasure of spending way too much time with Mark Lanegan, let me tell you he would have pretended to hate this,” Homme told the crowd, “but he would have loved to see you all here tonight.”
He then invited the “so cool” Mosshart back to the stage for a heartfelt delivery of ‘Come To Me’. After the pair embraced, Homme said: “This next song, when I’m gone, at my funeral which you’re all invited to (it’s next Thursday) I want this song played.” He then invited his hero Gahan back for an almighty ‘One Hundred Days’ closing the first set.
A video tribute to Lanegan then played out over the screens before a three-song encore that saw Dulli sing ‘Dollar Bill’ before Gahan delivered the fan favourite ‘Revival’, and Shelley Lanegan joined to sing PJ Harvey‘s parts on ‘Hit The City’ and the whole evening’s ensemble took to the stage to take a bow.
“We all loved him in our own ways,” ended Dulli, in a final tribute to Lanegan. “If you knew him, you loved him. But if you just loved his music, that was plenty.”
Josh Homme and Dave Gahan for Mark Lanegan. What a night. pic.twitter.com/3RtWepyg12
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) December 6, 2024
The ‘Mark Lanegan 60 – A Celebration’ setlist was:
‘Sideways In Reverse’ – Dave Gahan
‘Low’ – Dave Gahan
‘Kingdoms Of Rain’ – Dave Gahan
‘Strange Religion’ – Dave Gahan
‘Driving Death Valley Blues’ – Bobby Gillespie
‘Pendulum’ – Bobby Gillespie
‘Sworn And Broken’ – Bobby Gillespie
‘Mockingbirds’ – Alison Mosshart
‘Mud Pink Skag’ – Alison Mosshart
‘When Your Number Isn’t Up’ – Alison Mosshart
‘Wedding Dress’ – Alison Mosshart
‘Judgement Time’ – Wendi Rose, T Jae Cole, Janet Ramus
‘I Am The Wolf’ – Duke Garwood
‘Methamphetamime Blues’ – Greg Dulli
‘Change Has Come’ – Greg Dulli
‘The Stations’ – Greg Dulli
‘The River Rise’ – Greg Dulli
‘One Way Street’ – Ed Harcourt
‘Kimiko’s Dream House’ – Chrissie Hynde
‘Halcyon Daze’ – Chrissie Hynde
‘Revelator’ – Chrissie Hynde
‘Carnival’ – Josh Homme
‘El Sol’ – Josh Homme
‘Come To Me’ – Josh Homme, Alison Mosshart
‘One Hundred Days’ – Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan
Encore:
‘Dollar Bill’ – Greg Dulli
‘Revival’ – Dave Gahan
‘Hit The City’ – Dave Gahan, Shelly Lanegan
Speaking about the impact of the loss of Lanegan, Gahan recently told NME: “It’s time; you start thinking about time. I knew that Mark was struggling with his health and was trying to take care of that in various ways. I think everything just caught up with him. You get to a certain age where you find yourself asking, ‘Why does this hurt? Why can’t I do that?’ You don’t feel older in my mind, but you feel it.
“To me, losing Mark was the same as when Bowie went. You know: tick-tock, we’re not invincible, we’re not here forever, you’ve just got to enjoy the time you have. Give a little more time to your family and friends and be grateful for what you have. Mark struggled for years with his demons – as we all do, some of us more than others – but his songwriting and in particular his voice have been my companion for years.”