Tuesday 7 October 2008

Gig Review: Ladyhawke, The Roadhouse, Sunday 5th October

After watching Ladyhawke support act Little Boots, Helen Of Troy… knows what it wants for Christmas. The Blackpool-born electro-pop star-in-the-making creates her perfectly-polished sound with a Tenori-On (pictured below).

We’ve had a quick look round, and think they cost about £700. Helen Of Troy… is rich in many ways; spirit, knowledge and experience, but we’re not that rich money-wise, so we’ve set up the Helen Of Troy… Needs A Tenori-On Fund, details of which will follow later.

OK, enough with our begging and on with the gig review. First off is Little Boots, who quite frankly, is impossible not to like. She’s funny, in-control and cute - we fucking hate saying that, but she really, really is. Her electro-pop lite, which is reminiscent of Kylie at her very best, may lack substance, but as fun, danceable pop, it’s hard not to love.

On to the main event, 1980s-loving pop star Pip Brown. Even after a particularly busy and traumatic weekend, we were still well excited about this gig. As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve ever read this blog before, we’re quite big fans. Unfortunately, we left a little deflated. First of all, and this is not Pip’s fault, the sound was atrocious. For the first three songs, Professional Suicide, Manipulating Woman and Better Than Sunday (if our memory serves us correctly), her vocals were almost completely inaudible and without them, her music was rendered a little redundant. As the vocal volume increased gradually (though it was never consistently good) the gig got loads better, and singles Dusk Till Dawn, Back Of The Van and Paris Is Burning were very nearly delivered with the power and passion they deserve.

Secondly, the New Zealand pop star seemed so uncomfortable onstage, you almost felt guilty for asking her to play. It seemed like Pip would rather hide under a rock than rock out. We’ve seen plenty of shy pop stars before and not been bothered by their reticence, but this lack of confidence, combined with the poor sound, meant the gig was more of an apologetic whisper than the proud statement of arrival it should have been.

5 comments:

Adem With An E said...

Seems to be the general consensus re: her confidence at gigs. It started off shaky at the Melbourne show but she totally turned it around and was even rocking out for the remains of that gig.

Did you read the amazing piece on her in the Guardian a few weeks back? Really, really strong glimpse into her mind.

Helen of... said...

I was watching one of her video diaries last night; she seemed so much more confident playing big festivals such as Glastonbury than she did playing to smaller intimate crowds. I know some singers find it that way though.

I'm not sure if I did read the Guardian piece, I shall go and hunt for it now.

Lyndsey
x

Manhattanchester said...

Blackpool-born?? BLACKPOOL -BORN?? Wow. I never thought anything cool would come out of my home town. Shame about Ladyhawke, that girl needs to drink more before getting onstage, it's that simple. Fantastic blog btw Lynds, keep it up!! xx

Helen of... said...

Thanks Greg :) I think both MC and I would agree that your blog was our inspiration.
xx

Adem With An E said...

RE: Ladyhawke drinking more; apparently that is ALL she does before a drink. Quite the grog monster apparently, she is.

Thankfully, it's one of the few things she's not allergic to, the poor love!