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Date 24/10/03
Country England, UK
Town Manchester
Venue Academy 1
Support Mankato&l
Setlist 01. Deep Honey
02. Human
03. Lovely Head
04. Crystalline Green
05. Train
06. Utopia
07. Slippage
08. Deer Stop
09. Tip Toe
10. Twist
11. Strict Machine
12. Pilots
13. Yes Sir
14. Black Cherry
Reviews - Goldfrapp are back with a harder electro-goth sound; Alison's vocal can still smash window panes, and her outfits can certainly break a few hearts. But can her hardened persona really cut it on stage? We're not convinced?
The power in her voice quashed earlier rumours of a throat infection, striking out on first album tracks Utopia and Lovely Head.

Mixing up the coffee table cool of Felt Mountain with the harder electro-goth sound of Black Cherry, Goldfrapp have some killer tunes and more than enough attitude to put on a good show.
But as far as stage prescence goes, you don't get much more than a lightshow and a flash of thigh to keep you entertained. Her strong, haunting voice sounds better live than on your stereo but as a group they just can't raise the stakes high enough to blow you away.
But there are some high points; They rock through new tracks Strict Machine, Twist, and end on title track Black Cherry. Alison camps it up just enough to give a glimpse of how good they could look on stage if only they'd forget themselves and enjoy it just a little more.
But you can't take away her the beauty of her voice; if you haven't already heard it on the first album you'll have heard it on collaborations with Tricky and Orbital. They may not catch your attention on stage, but they still sound great. I'm hooked.
(Julia Houston, from BBC Manchester)

- GOLDFRAPP 2003 are a very different machine from Goldfrapp 2000.
Will Gregory has turned his back on playing live, Alison Goldfrapp has been sexed-up into a Thunderbird-cum-streetwalker, and the lethargic electro-jazz sound has been replaced by oily synthesiser riffs.
But any suggestion that this move towards electroclash was a cynical marketing device is quickly torn apart. Instead there?s a sense that Goldfrapp are merely toying with the sound, showing the dilettantes how it should be done.
Onstage tonight keyboards, live drums, bass and session musicians all orbit Alison Goldfrapp - Marlene Dietrich with better legs.
Disdainful
Tonight, as ever, Alison speaks few words - the most we receive is a curt ?thanks? followed by a cackle of disdainful laughter. However, she doesn?t need to speak to make her presence felt.
She?s tiny in stature but all eyes are on her throughout ? and only partly due to the tiny mini-dress she?s barely wearing. She struts sulkily, as if resentful that she?s not yet playing the MEN arena.
Her vocals border on the ethereal, dominating the sound and the crowd with it ? it?s clear that the girls in the audience want to be her and the boys want to be underneath her.
Old songs like Lovely Head and Human sound glorious, cascading around the venue while Alison cups the microphone to her mouth, abusing and wringing out tones that shouldn?t be possible.
The singles from 2000's Felt Mountain sound far more sinister in a public setting, music to be intimidated by. The crowd stand as one, marvelling at the aural theatrics and not daring to move. And then the pulsing intro to Train rises up, causing all the couples in the crowd to grind against each other unawares.
Weakening
Upcoming single Twist swirls around gracefully, the lines ?Fight me, try me / Kiss me like you like me / Twist it round again and again? weakening the knees of every male watching.
The encore treats us to their cover of Baccara?s disco hit Yes Sir I Can Boogie. The naïve pop of the original is stripped away leaving us with a hard brittle shell that perverts the lyric into a venomous threat.
The final song of the night is the sultry downbeat anthem Black Cherry which reaches a crescendo with glitter bombs being fired from the stage ? an explosion that seems all too fitting after the throbbing rhythms of songs like Strict Machine.
The new Goldfrapp are a one-night stand in an opium den; modish smut for the masses. It?s odds on that most of the couples decided against clubbing and instead rushed home to hit the sack.
(Ian Jones, from manchesteronline.co.uk)

- just come home back from the awesome academy gig!!! man it was excellent and it was awesome, alisons voice gave me goose pimples and she had real sexual stage presence and charisma, loved the crack about manchester having a reputation! what did u all think? but i didnt notice during the euphoric splendour of utopia! almost as dostracting was alison playing with her instrument during Yes Sir!... such creative use of a bizarre noise making thing (i forgot the name of it) heres to their next tour!!!
wasnt that Black Cherry finale beautiful? a torch song style climax to the gig..ahhhhhhhhh
(chokka, from the official forum)

- I went to the Manchester gig last night as well and it was absolutely brilliant, the crowd were really up for it I thought. The silver confetti was a really nice touch as well during Black Cherry. It's the first time I've ever been to a gig and wanted to see the band play again immediately.
(Jilani, from the official forum)

- Hi,
I went to the Manchester gig and it was fabulous. Alison looked stunning and the music was fantastic. I thought the soundmix was quite good on the whole! I didn't come away with ringing ears either - always a good sign of a good sound mix!
Only a couple of annoying people jumping around in the audience- but they were only enjoying the gig I suppose!
Lots of friendly people in the audience too. This was my first Goldfrapp gig and I was blown away!
Thank you Goldfrapp!!!
P.S. - Loved Alison's hat!
(iain, from the official forum)

- It was amazing. Alison seemed somewhat distant during the first half of the gig but as the audience cheered more she warmed to us. She even cracked a joke about Manchester. By the encores, she seemed really pleased by the audiences ecstatic reaction. The surprise during Black Cherry was great. Iain, that guy jumping around - was he the bald guy with glasses up front?
Alison has a very strong and amazing stage presence and fine bouncers too. Strict Machine was really rockin'. 9/10, minus 1 because sometimes the sound of her vocals wasn't loud enough unless she did her "operatic" bits.
(Attitude, from the official forum)

- The Manchester gig was exceptionally good. I was surprised by the large turnout, but gratified to see so many souls shuffling and bobbing to the music!
I agree with the post that commented on her being a bit distant at first. I didn't think we were that fearsome as a crowd! Lord knows, I've been to a few London gigs and the audiences are usually terribly "cool" and unresponsive.
Alison was wonderfully sexy, though I really think that she could play that up a bit more and be a bit more saucy with the banter. That type of behaviour would have a large number of males ( and quite a few females too) unbearably worked up. She has the charisma, she just needs to let rip a bit more!
Still a great night. The wife and I loved it!
(G.H., from the official forum)

- Well - the concert was Fantastic.
My first time at the Academy and wasn't dissapointed, perfect size for a gig.
Alison - your voice - so surprised how bloody brilliant you are live, - not a bum note !
and as for your stage presence, - cool/raunchy/erotic.....so cool !!
and don't forget the brill musicians - very impressed to say the least !!!
If I had to criticise - I would say the vocals on Pilots was definately too low, but apart from that I thought it was great.
(Husky Max, from the official forum)

- was about 7/8 people back and in my view enough people weren't dancing! Not that the crowd was unreceptive. I was really pleased that they got that reception. I didn't hear anything wrong that with the sound, perhaps Utopia could have sounded a smidge beter, but I'm nit-picking. I was worried that at the end of a world tour tehy may seem tired but Ali seemed to really enjoy it. Was that a toy whale... how i wish it was me...
We saw the footage from the Somerset house gig so we recogised the gliter-shooters but what a great effect! The snow on Pilots was great as well. Highlight had to be Yes Sir though! What a relentless fucker of a track! Would have sounded great between Strict Macine and Forever on the album?
If any of the live band amble upon this please take your bow at gigs. You're every bit as important as Ali, we would love to show our appreciation.
The book is great, i'm sure I'll treasure it but perhaps it could have been a bit bigger? I love the picture of the crying girl with the pom-pom. Does anyone know what this pic is and if prints are available if so PLEASE let me know, Betty Page, i'm sure you're clued up about this!!!
Been 24 hours since and I'm still feeling what would be the cool version of an afterglow of the gig. But where from here? Ali and Will are the type of people who'll wanna do other projects and won't make another album if they don't feel as if they can reach their own high stadards. I just hope they can. I'll willingly wait another three years, I just don't wanna feel as if that was my last ever 'frapp gig! Judging by the love I felt going both ways last night though, I'm optimistic...
(TremblingStar, from the official forum)

 
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