Dot in the Sky (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dotinthesky) wrote2003-03-02 01:17 pm
dotinthesky) wrote2003-03-02 01:17 pm
Entry tags:
The Sun won't shine on Beth
Beth Gibbons’ show reviewed
The gig was at the Shepherd’s Bush, just a bus ride and two Tube stops away from home. Doors were opening at 6.30 so we left around 6.15. We wanted to be early because we thought there would be an opening act. We were wrong.
Luckily, our tickets were for the first floor. (Karlita can guess where we found our seats… on the balcony overlooking the stage! This is the third time I sit on that spot (I sat there previously for Grant Lee Phillips’ and Sinead O’Connor)… no big heads blocking my view, no standing. Just a clear view of the musicians.
A DJ was spinning Northern Soul, a bit of Carpenters, a bit of big band. I kept looking at the crowd by the stage, hoping someone would start dancing. The English are very conservative that way… they need litres of alcohol in their body before they loosen up. Kevin and I started to get a bit annoyed as the minutes ticked away and there was no live music.
Then, around 9.30, Beth Gibbons came on. She wore just a pair of jeans and a black top, a very stripped down look, much like the rest of the band. She immediately jumped into the first single of her solo album, a very slow song that reminded me of Portishead, minus the trip hop beats. There was very little crowd interaction, she just went from song to song. The crowd loved her though. The place was packed tight, and once every song ended the whole theatre burst into whistles and claps.
Kevin described her music as a cross between Marianne Faithful and Patsy Cline. I would say it was Billy Holiday returned from the dead, under the sea, a pagan, and with a realization that she has many years in purgatory. The songs were very morose, about loss, autumn, unhappiness. I fell into a kind of lull and could have easily fallen asleep… misery works like a sedative on me.
The only thing that pissed me off was a girl sitting beside me. She spent the whole time looking at me to see if I was looking at her. It wasn’t even a “I wonder if he likes me?” attitude, more a “I’m a paranoid bitch”… very sad, cause I could tell she was very self-conscious. I almost told her to stop, to pay attention to the music, because it was distracting me and irritating like fuck.
But I’m a very patient guy and I let that slip. I’m still reading “Madness and Modernism” so I’m aware of the uncontrollability of mental disturbances. God knows I have plenty of them!
The gig was at the Shepherd’s Bush, just a bus ride and two Tube stops away from home. Doors were opening at 6.30 so we left around 6.15. We wanted to be early because we thought there would be an opening act. We were wrong.
Luckily, our tickets were for the first floor. (Karlita can guess where we found our seats… on the balcony overlooking the stage! This is the third time I sit on that spot (I sat there previously for Grant Lee Phillips’ and Sinead O’Connor)… no big heads blocking my view, no standing. Just a clear view of the musicians.
A DJ was spinning Northern Soul, a bit of Carpenters, a bit of big band. I kept looking at the crowd by the stage, hoping someone would start dancing. The English are very conservative that way… they need litres of alcohol in their body before they loosen up. Kevin and I started to get a bit annoyed as the minutes ticked away and there was no live music.
Then, around 9.30, Beth Gibbons came on. She wore just a pair of jeans and a black top, a very stripped down look, much like the rest of the band. She immediately jumped into the first single of her solo album, a very slow song that reminded me of Portishead, minus the trip hop beats. There was very little crowd interaction, she just went from song to song. The crowd loved her though. The place was packed tight, and once every song ended the whole theatre burst into whistles and claps.
Kevin described her music as a cross between Marianne Faithful and Patsy Cline. I would say it was Billy Holiday returned from the dead, under the sea, a pagan, and with a realization that she has many years in purgatory. The songs were very morose, about loss, autumn, unhappiness. I fell into a kind of lull and could have easily fallen asleep… misery works like a sedative on me.
The only thing that pissed me off was a girl sitting beside me. She spent the whole time looking at me to see if I was looking at her. It wasn’t even a “I wonder if he likes me?” attitude, more a “I’m a paranoid bitch”… very sad, cause I could tell she was very self-conscious. I almost told her to stop, to pay attention to the music, because it was distracting me and irritating like fuck.
But I’m a very patient guy and I let that slip. I’m still reading “Madness and Modernism” so I’m aware of the uncontrollability of mental disturbances. God knows I have plenty of them!
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YAY!!!!
Beth is so adorable!!
I love her!
:)
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was this the stuff from the album she released with rustin man? the one with the 'tom the model' track? i love that song.
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