Photo by RORY MCGLASSON
Paul Weller, founder of The Jam, is now and shall forever be The Modfather. The 55-year-old Brit pop icon ended his U.S. tour Wednesday at Union Transfer and despite a setlist with paltry few Jam numbers, Weller did not disappoint. Weller doesn’t do nostalgia. Repeated shout-outs for Jam tunes were summarily ignored. Still, Weller did offer up a few all-time favorites, among them “That’s Entertainment,” the timeless classic that catapulted Weller to super-stardom some 36 years ago, and the mighty “Town Called Malice.” Weller, who still gets nervous before going on stage apparently, took about three minutes to feel at home with the Philly crowd as he blasted into “Wake Up The Nation,” and “From the Floorboards Up” with his crack seven-piece band, leaning heavily on his last two records, Sonick Kicks and Wake Up the Nation, along with a Style Council nod in the form of the quite underrated “My Ever Changing Moods.” Despite the silvering of his trademark mod mullet, Weller still sounds like the kid off the streets of Woking, in Southern England. The genuine passion in Weller’s voice, not to mention the soulful lyrics and readily apparent love of his craft, is why The Modfather still matters all these years later. — RORY MCGLASSON