Thea Gilmore is still only 29. Hard to believe, but when you record your debut album at 16, the 13 years just zip by. Gilmore took to the stage at Bloomsbury flanked by Husband/Producer/Occasional Co-writer Nigel Stonier on guitar/piano, and 'Fluff' on Guitar, Chello, and Violin and iinformed us that she wanted to play us quite a few songs from her new album Liejacker.
She kicked off the set with Old Soul, followed by Seen it all Before (from Rules for Jokers), Rosie, and Dance in New York (for which Gilmore aplogised that it was nearly 7 minutes long, and hoped we'd not be bored by the end)
The rest of the set was indeed based around the new album, but still included space for the likes of 'This Girl is Taking Bets'; 'Avalanche'; 'Call me Your Darling'; 'December in New York'...
If that wasn't enough we also got an all new tune: 'God’s Got Nothing On You', which was played by just Thea on guitar, and sounded like another winner.
Several times, Gilmore commented on how quiet the crowd was and said that maybe it was the venue or the temperature - is was hot in the theatre.
Attempts to get us to sing-a-long almost had her threatening to come down into the audience - as it took her 4 attempts for her to be happy with our singing performance. We were redeemed slightly by the appearance of around 9 people on stage, when we were invited up for 'When I get Back to Shore' [Beating the 2 in Manchester and the 1 in Glasgow].
The evening ended with 'The Lower Road' (sadly Joan Baez had not flown in to reprise her album appearance)
Highlights? Dance in New York, Call me Your Darling, You Spin me Round, Saviours and All, and a sublime versions of Icarus Road and Black Letter (both off the new album).
Gilmore's vocal performance the whole night was a treat and highlighted just how good a vocalist she is (much underated) and how fine her new album really is. If that was not enough, she looked like she was having fun too! If you get the chance, get along and see her.
A mention should also go out to Pete Du Pon, who was the support act. A bit Damien Rice vocally, he delivered a nice set that showed promise, and which culminated with a wonderful folk version of Green Day's excellent, 'Basketcase'.
No comments:
Post a Comment