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MELANCHOLY SKY
8 Jan 2012
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6 Feb 2012 |
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|
| Date |
19/05/03 |
| Country |
England, UK |
| Town |
London |
| Venue |
The Astoria |
| Setlist |
01. Crystalline Green
02. Human
03. Hairy Trees
04. Lovely Head
05. Deep Honey
06. Utopia
07. Deer Stop
08. Train
09. Tip Toe
10. Twist
11. Strict Machine
12. Slippage
13. Pilots
14. Yes Sir
15. Black Cherry
16. Felt Mountain |
| Pix |
    
    
    
    
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| Reviews |
© danny regan, 2003
(a warm thank you to Zaza for sharing her pics; merci!)
- Alison captivates the Astoria.
Standing Amazonian-like at the front of the stage, Alison Goldfrapp towers on six-inch heels. She is an intriguing picture of Alice in Wonderland innocence, yet, in her French maid's outfit, she exudes the deviance of Rocky Horror's Magenta. The set is perfect Tim Burton material; giant decaying trees and a multitude of fairy lights, both haunting and beautiful, simultaneously. You begin to sense the subversive undercurrents.
Having not seen them before in anything other than their DJing capacity, I am intrigued to see how tonight will unfold. In a word, it's mesmerising. Even the over zealous 'Frapp fans pinned to the front of the stage, are too stunned to move much, gaining only enough momentum to sway gently. In fact, there is very little action on stage. It is purely the spectacle of Alison, with her stunning operatic vocals and legs that go on forever, that has us so captivated. I haven't seen a woman command an audience with such little effort since Debbie Harry in her heyday!
It is a simple band; two keyboards, a drummer, bass player and a couple of violins. The string arrangements are beautiful and bring an air of sophistication and pathos to the sound. During the more downtempo moments of 'Utopia', 'Crystalline Green' and 'Deep Honey', the Astoria becomes immersed in an eerie resonance and it takes the opening grind of 'Train' to snap us all out of our trance. Here, Alison morphs from 1940s crooner, to disco dominatrix, 'Black Cherry', 'Strict Machine' and 'Twist' every bit as satisfying as they are on record. So move over all you sub-sexy pop-starlets, Alison Goldfrapp has thrown down the gauntlet as challenger to the title of Queen of Pop. I'm looking forward to seeing someone who could better her.
(Jill Hollywood, from The Fly magazine)
- G o l d e n G i r l
As a huge fan of Goldfrapp's, beautifully crafted, atmospheric debut album Felt Mountain, I awaited the release of their second long player with baited breath. It is always interesting to see how an artist tackles the notoriously difficult follow up to a runaway success on their first outing. On first listen it was clear that Black Cherry was not Felt Mountain 2. I was initially disappointed that the duo (Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory) had left behind the ethereal atmospheres of Felt Mountain in favour of the glitz of a sleazy electronic disco. It only took a few more listens to have me hooked.
Having seen them perform stunning live shows before I was eager to see if they could pull off a show incorporating the new material, I have to admit I was sceptical. I needn't have been. From the moment Alison and her band shuffled, somewhat self-consciously, on stage til she left with a few shy waves, I and the rest of the audience were spellbound.
In front of a backdrop of hundreds of sparkling green fairy lights Alison took centre stage. Sporting the unlikely combo of an army field service cap and a ridiculously short black skirt she had an air of nervousness. At the microphone any trace of this was lost, this is where she is comfortable, and it shows.
The new album opener, Crystalline Green, starts the show and its immediately evident that the sound setup tonight is just right. This seems to be a given for a Goldfrapp gig, I have seen them in three totally different venues (the Union Chapel, Shepherds Bush Empire and now the Astoria) and their sound is always impeccable. It could just be that Alisons voice has such power and quality that it transcends any nasty sound system glitches. She could be singing in your local telephone box and she'd still draw a crowd.
Any worries I had about mixing new and old material disappeared completely as the set list unfolded. Beginning with alternate tracks from each album, including the classic Human and the sublime Hairy Trees, Goldfrapp proved that their songs could sit comfortably side by side. Indeed the new material fleshed out the set in places adding a lively new dimension to their show. Tracks like Utopia and Lovely Head did not at all seem out of place alongside Tiptoe and current single Train. The set wound up with the glam strut of Strict Machine, during which, we the audience, were treated to a shower of sparkling silver confetti.
Miss Goldfrapp returned twice more with her band to eventually finish off with the soaring title track of the new album, Black Cherry. She may have had four other superb musicians on stage with her but the band is called Goldfrapp for a reason. Tonight was all about Alison, and with a voice like hers rightly so.
(Richard Spence)
- Two years ago Goldfrapp were a best-selling, achingly fashionable, Mercury-nominated musical phenomenon, the kind of ubiquitous band to be heard on every TV trailer, in every other Hoxton bar. Thankfully they seem to have gotten over it.
Not that you'd know it for the first half of this gig, leaning as it does on the wildly over-rated debut, 'Felt Mountain'. The band's technical ability and talent are beyond reproach, but too often in the past it has been employed on music so obsessively studied, so contrived, it becomes unlovable. Drawing on the same modishly updated sixties sounds that fuelled Portishead and Air, Goldfrapp were actually distinctly less interesting than either.
Moody but melodic, retro with just enough modernity, Goldfrapp suggested a manufactured band for people who thought they knew better, coffee table music for occasional clubbers. Alison Goldfrapp - tonight dressed as an icy Sally Bowles in perky bowler hat and vertigo heels - has an undeniable vampish charisma, but this earlier music lacks the bite and frisson to match her stage presence.
So, second song 'Human' is a note perfect homage to John Barry's orchestral atmospherics, but tries so hard to be icy cool it ends up merely cold. The newer 'Hairy Trees' is torch song chic from a textbook, and about as emotionally involving as most textbooks. It all sounds quite wonderful - particularly Goldfrapp's sublime voice - but is all too easy to imagine relegated to the background of a dinner party. The glaring exception from this older material is 'Lovely Head', a song weird and twisted enough to cause any guest to choke on their ciabatta. Live, Goldfrapp crank up its oddness, percussion booming and strings squalling while the singer stalks the stage dreamily intoning its doomy words. Mesmeric.
But it's with the 'Black Cherry' material that Goldfrapp prove they've truly found their voice. From the first notes of 'Train' the tempo of the performance shifts abruptly from soothing to bruising. Will Gregory's violin is retired and queasy, lurching keyboards take its place, Goldfrapp's voice melting into the narcotic, erotic throb. At last they dare to sound less than tasteful, and become much the better for it, making music that lives in the hips as much as it lives in the head. 'Tiptoe' follows, a swampy sex song built on a buzzing Chemical Brothers keyboard riff and Goldfrapp's liquid vocals, which merge into a manic, fevered rendition of 'Twist'. If this is mood music, it's mood music for the psychotic.
What has rapidly become a triumphant performance closes with 'Strict Machine', a song so careless of cool it steals from Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', and has nearly the same orgasmic exuberance. A glittery downpour explodes from the ceiling, a joyful, kitsch touch that Goldfrapp would once surely have disdained. However, they've clearly learned an important lesson. Being fashionable isn't all that hard. Being good is.
(Jamie Gill, from Dotmusic.com)
- With a debut album that's been described as "magnificent and mesmerising" there might be some cause for concern that perhaps offering number two would not match up.
Instead Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory have undoubtedly bettered the glories of 'Felt Mountain' with the fantastically sleek 'Black Cherry', and the same can be said for their live show.
Where 'Felt Mountain', and the gigs that went with it, were haunting and bewitching, tonight's performance at the Astoria is raunchy, playful and seductive. Our leading lady, looking every bit the star, appears as dramatically dressed as ever. In a tiny mini-skirt, stripy ankle socks and her red shoes sparkling, this charmingly sexy siren gets a warm welcome.
'Crystalline Green' kicks things off, at first seeming simplistic and sparse before metamorphosing into elaborate yet gutsy, right-on-the-edge electronica. A cool and captivating start. Next up is the beautiful and beguiling 'Human' and as the violin strings soar, Alison struts around and peers from under her black hat at her adoring audience. "Are you human, or a dud?" she purrs. Magic!
The first half of tonight's set is largely taken from their debut. The lusciously arranged 'Lovely Head' is timed perfectly with the gloriously glittering light show and the dazzling, operatic 'Utopia', with it's edgy keyboard and a spine-tingling, note perfect performance, stuns us all into silence. A little later on the down-right-dirty and sleazy sound of 'Black Cherry' romps in. The glam rock inspired introduction of 'Train' is intoxicating and gets heads bobbing all over the damn place. 'Tiptoe' and 'Twist' follow suit with their infectious swirling synthesised foundations, resplendently topped off with funky serene vocals.
It's during 'Strict Machine' that the true diva inside Alison bursts out. The band's next single is a thumping infusion of disco-inspired sounds that pays homage to 70s influences such as Donna Summer. Throughout tonight's show Goldfrapp manage to maintain a certain mysticism while entertaining us with music that is both movingly original and yet foot-tappingly familiar. How very clever!
(Ruth Mitchell, from xfm) |
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