Ooo, a chance to talk about it, without having to start my own thread and sound overly fawning. So be warned, the following may contain a great deal of complementary adjectives and apologies for the inevitable lengthiness.
It was incredible, and as always with Barbican gigs, a pretty special night. Something about that venue that always adds a little extra shine on top. I too was surprised by its popularity. A full-house, and a big snaking queue for returns which I don't recall seeing at the Barbican before. I think the fact that she's featured as a critics' favourite last year, and in the higher reaches of a lot of 'Top Albums of 2006' lists accounts for that - there were a fair share of journos there, and some familiar faces in the music-world too.
I won't deny I'm a big fan of Newsom, and so was always going to enjoy it, but it really was a memorable performance and my friend was equally impressed. I saw her last year in a much more intimate setting at the ATP festival from just a couple of feet away, where she alone previewed several tracks from
Ys. At that point, I had no indication of how amazing they would sound when played in a large venue with orchestra, and I'm glad to have now seen both sides.
She ran through the entirety of
Ys for the first part. To hear Van Dyke Parks's arrangements played by the LSO was awesome. And although it was a by-the-numbers rendition, to hear it played by a live and highly regarded orchestra made it all the more impressing. Some of my favourite moments on
Ys are the interaction between Newsom, her harp and surrounding instruments. There are moments during
Only Skin, from about halfway through where she spliced
Be a Woman into, that I think has truly genius moments - near "
Though we felt the spray of the waves / We decided to stay 'til the tide rose too far." in particular. Incidentally her beau, Bill Callahan/Smog, was there to provide his vocals for the closing moments of
Only Skin - a nice extra bonus as he only sings for a minute or so in the whole 17-minutes.
That night [and I guess for all UK dates] she was accompanied by two of the players she's been working with on the current tour - strings (guitar, banjo, and something similar to a lute) and a percussionist/vocalist. I wasn't sure what to expect of these guys initially, but they turned out to be one of the high points. The percussionist in particular played with a great deal of space, adding very subtle touches - a tap of a tambourine or a cymbal brush - complementing the sound to perfection. Anything more and it would have been distracting. I have high regard for his playing, and how well he managed with backing vocals. Same for the guitarist, played respectfully to the record without being stilted by it and adding his own personality to it jumping from instrument to instrument. We were informed he was responsible for organising much of the live arrangement, so great respect for that. Nonetheless, the unaccompanied performance of
Sawdust & Diamonds was breath-taking, and proved the strength of her solo performance.
Many artists might have ended the set at that point, but she dutifully returned centre-stage with the two accompanists. Wearing a different outfit, she informed us it was "not a Christina Aguilera costume-change". She's evidently a fairly nervous performer, but does have a good sense of humour and creates a good rapport with the crowd. We got a number of tracks from
Milk-Eyed Mender - which, if I recall correctly, were
Sadie,
Bridges and Balloons,
This Side of the Blue and
Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie; being as you might expect, stunning. I was really hoping for
En Gallop!, but no luck. She also played a tradional Scottish ballad (
Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes), beautiful, and one new song which I gather is currently titled 'Shreddy'. That, I feel, was the pinnacle of the night. She's yet again evolved her style. It's much more based in traditional folk than anything she's done before, playing as a three-piece. Features a repeating fast and very rhythmic passage and a sinister tone, with clear influence of North African music (maybe closer to Turkish/Algerian music) which she lets out an superb percussive yelp to -
Youtube link which unfortunately doesn't do it justice. The other two players really shined here.
Really looking forward to the new stuff - hopefully there will be lots more previewed at ATP in April.
One notable thing is the significant change in her voice over the last year has put a different twist on familiar tracks - they come over with much more measured grace, and feel somewhat more natural. However, the harshness and occasionally unpalatable quirkiness of her voice was what initially appealed to me, and it does feel like she's lost something in that. It is admittedly a better voice now, but there's always a danger that she might end up sounding too 'nice'.
My condolences you missed out, but hope I've given you a good rundown of the night
. I think it's going to be hard to top in the coming year of live music.
Crazy... I didn't even realise that that many people had heard of her for her to be in such demand...
