The last time Alison Goldfrapp and band were in town, it was in support of Supernature and she cried while performing the song "Black Cherry". Last night, in lieu of tears we get a more fiesty, spirited Alison unlike what I had ever seen.
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
To open the show, Jaymay took the stage with her lone guitar and single spotlight shining above her. Most of the Goldfrapp ticketholders were still at the bar so half the theatre was empty. But for those who sat and stayed through the set, Jaymay performed in a lighthearted manner. She related banter in between songs and remained cheerful throughout her performance. The best way I can describe Jaymay's sound is something of a cross between Chan Marshall and Feist. Her songs are about lost loves, past loves, chance encounters and mean people. Bascially, her p.o.v. of NYC. I was disappointed that she didn't sing "Blue Skies" but it was an acoustic set and a nice, calm one at that. Honestly, the least the Beacon could do was add a couple more lights to her set.
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
After Jaymay thanked Goldfrapp for having her perform, the crowd cheered and she exited. Soon after, we begin hearing music from the soundtrack of the classic British horror The Wicker Man (the one that starred Edward Woodward & Britt Eckland).
The stage design was simple. Its the same setup seen so far at previous gigs. Wicker squares hung in the background to create a rough canvas for lighting & imagery. The roadies began setting up the maypole-like mic stand while a woman came out and set up a thermos and cup for Alison - she's currently staving off a cold.
At 9PM, the house lights dimmed and the crowd went nuts. All of a sudden, all the empty seats were beginning to fill up as patrons stumbled to their seats with drinks in hand. The band came on stage and the house cheered louder. As soon as Alison stepped on stage - the crowd in the orchestra section immediately stood up to give Alison a standing ovation and the rest of the house offered deafening cheers. Alison was definitely overwhelmed and she loved it. The band launched into "Paper Bag" from Felt Mountain, their first release.
I'm glad I finally got to see Alison play her melodica live. Pretty obvious that she retired the Theremin on this tour. But I'd rather watch her play with multiple instruments at this point. After "Paper Bag" Alison would drink from her cup in between songs to keep her cold at bay. She thanked the crowd and began to speak. She alerted the crowd that she and members of the band are overcoming a cold. The response from the crowd was "Awwwe poor baby" and "Alison its all good...We love you!" "A&E" was next and sadly, she didn't hit the "hiiiiiigh" part as strongly as she wanted it. It was obvious that the cold prevented her from going to her comfort level. Right afterwards, Alison said, "That was shit!" The crowd answered back, "It's all good!" and "Oh my God! Alison you are sexy!" A female patron kept screaming that about six times last night and she sat near me. The crowd was pretty good. If it weren't for the theatre being a seated theatre, the floor would've been jam packed. But I could tell that the crowd was itching for upbeat songs.
Next up was "Utopia". Davide's violin plucking signaled its entrance and Alison saved up her vocal magic for hitting these soaring operatic notes. It was spine tingling good. At that point, she wanted her cold to 'fuck off' and she hit her stride.
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
As you can see in the photo above, the lighting was sparse during "Utopia". In fact, the lighting was sparse during the first four songs until....
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
"Satin Chic". All of a sudden, it was as if someone pushed the 'jolt' button under our seats and we all went nuts. People got up, started chair dancing, ran down the aisles to dance. It was great. There was one spot in particular that got Alison's attention at front stage left. A whole bunch of people were dancing there and she acknowledged them. After the song, she said something like "I can see you!" to the audience when the bright white lights came on. I was a bit bummed that she didn't do too much of her rag doll, robot dancing. That would've been cool.
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
Now during "You Never Know" something wacky happened at the mixing board. Alison's vocals were starting to drown a bit near the end of the song when it hits that crescendo of violins & synths. In fact, Alison couldn't do that whatever-that-thing-she-does-with-her-vocals at the end. It was supposed to be this vocal acrobatic beauty it just got drowned. My "Alison sense" began to tingle. She was pissed. Next up was "Road to Somewhere" and this is where classic Alison takes on the monitor board guy.
During the song, there was feedback and waaay too much of the instrumentals. I seriously thought Alison was going to stop and walk off the stage. She was visibly pissed. She made one obvious hand signal to the mixer off stage and he still didn't level out her vocals. No, she didn't give him the finger (but I bet she wanted to - probably fantasized ripping his head off) but she really became animated in the middle of the song. She would've made a fine catcher on a baseball team with all those hand & arm signals. Right at the conclusion of the song, she made up some lines and took both hands to her face and covered her eyes. She then loudly pronounced, "FUCK!" right at the end of the last note of the song. And then Alison walked - walked? I mean STORMED - right over to the mixing board. Some patron shouted out "Holy shit!" which got the crowd to laugh. It was really funny seeing bassist Charlie Jones totally move out of his way to steer clear of Alison's wrath. While she was chewing the guy out, who by the way was taking her words with a grin on his face, the crowd began cheering.
Next up was "Eat Yourself". Quite fitting if you ask me! She especially sounded convinced that she needed to take a dose from her own lyrics after what transpired. Ahh, what's a Goldfrapp show without technical difficulty? Not a Goldfrapp show :) I wasn't sure if Will (the other half of the band) was at the show? Did anyone see him at all? Was he there?
Then came "Little Bird" with its jam-session ending. For whatever reason, that extended version didn't pack the punch I expected. Although, the imagery used certainly enouraged patrons to "smoke 'em if you got 'em".
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
This was the lull period of the set because next up was "Monster Love" and that really slowed heart rates down. BTW, "Cologne Cerrone Houdini" was performed earlier in the set. Just wanted to throw that out there.
As soon as the opening chords for "Number 1" started, the crowd got up, people ran down the aisles - again - and began dancing. The place was hopping.
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
After "Number 1" was "Strict Machine (We Are Glitter mix)". We were staying up and dancing. Hands were in the air, people were clapping and Alison & the band were into it. I want to mention Angie Pollock on keyboards and her hair was done up in fantastic braided fashion. Ruth Wall was on harp and keyboards and she made me laugh as she was totally into the groove during "Happiness". Davide Rossi was absolutely fantastic on violin and was totally lost in the music while playing the new Southern Bluegrass (or as Goldfrapp call it - hillbilly) version of "Ooh La La". Alex Lee. Oh my God Alex Lee. How many guitars do you have on this tour? He had more guitar changes than you can keep up. What a fantastic addition! And Ged Lynch took over drumming duties for this tour and brings a different spark to the sound. And I mentioned Charlie Jones before but I'll do it again! Charlie Jones on bass was great, as always.
When the band came out for their encore, Alison walked on stage with a glass of wine. She then said something like, "Well I thought I deserved some wine... Thank you, you're very kind." And the crowd approved. Little did we know that she was on her way tipsy-ville when the band launched into the hillbilly version of "Ooh La La".
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
Then they did "Caravan Girl" where Alison hit the high notes at the end, only to end it to improvise on other notes her vocals could hit at that point. At first I didn't notice but when she started playing with her pom poms on her dress between songs and walking not-so-sharp, I began to realize that Alison was getting a bit drunk. She eventually walked up to regard the front row and she stood there and stared for a bit. She finally snapped back to reality and started to talk a bit to the people at the front row.
The final encore song was "Happiness" and she was half-way drunk. She wasn't even dancing too well. She was walking back and forth from one end of the stage to the other and she ended up kinda doing this
Photo: Amanda Nanawa
She was waddling. Her arms shot straight up to the air like she was gasping for some more air to get her through the night.
The show ended and the crowd still wanted more but Alison bade a very enthusiastic "Thank you" to the NY audience. She began offering high fives to all the people who came up to the edge of the stage. I was jealous. I wanted a high five. And she did it from one end of the stage to the other. It was remarkable. In fact, it was interesting that Alison was more chatty and open during this show than I can recall.
Again, it was a Goldfrapp night. Quite remarkable and always fun to watch.
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