2012年 05月 19日 土曜日 01:44
Last night was a Mojo's mini-extravaganza with Abbe May (with cohorts) returning to one of their old haunts for a different kind of show than I've ever seen her give before. While I watched her set I couldn't help thinking of all the other times I've seen Abbe May live, and all the other incarnations she's been in at various points in the past. She's always had the leather jacket and some seriously killer legs, but she's a different lady today than she was the first time I saw her live. I can't even remember that was, but it wouldn't have been sooner than 2005.
Anyway, I love the music Abbe's making now, even if it's rather different to what she's done before with her more acoustic folksy/bluesy stuff. She struck me last night as a Suzie Quattro for the current generation(s), except with more musical acrobaticism. There's no denying she's a talented muso, and I like the direction she's going on. I must admit though that the only Abbe-related album I own to date is The Fuzz's 100 Demons. I haven't bought any of the other stuff, mostly because I haven't got around to it. I also think that for a while there I was a bit burned out on The Fuzz 'cause I saw the band nearly every weekend and I guess I needed a breather! I'm ready now though, especially to pick up Design Desire 'cause what I heard last night sounded amazing. My personal favourite was, I think, the one where she sang the melody that went really high and then the chorus was a chugging guitar rendition of the same melody. Awesomeness.
The other artist who played last night were, firstly, The Loose Lips (formerly The Fags), and secondly, the magical Tomás Ford. I've seen both these bands before, but it had been a while between the last gig and this one for each. The Loose Lips had apparently not rehearsed in ages, but to my ears they sounded pretty good anyway. Speaking with Louis after the show I told him that I actually quite like a more "shambolic" sound, as it's a bit more rock 'n roll, so maybe that's why I enjoyed it. They've got a lot of rockin' songs but probably my favourite to see live is "I Think I'm A Fag". Even if it wouldn't have the same ring to it if it were called "I Think I'm A Loose Lip", what with the band change and all.
Seeing Tomás Ford again was a lot of fun. The guy is definitely a performance artist, not just a musician, and it's always entertaining to see how much he can make the macho dudes in the audience squirm by dancing them around, kneeling down before them and things like that. He got up on the bar at one point (seems to me he's always got to find somewhere high to jump up on, so he can then jump back down) and danced around on that. Then he got down behind the bar and walked past the barstaff who were still busily pouring drinks, and made his way slowly back to the stage. He spends more time off stage than on, I'd guess. At one point while on stage, he began a series of very forceful pelvic thrusts. All the while he's got his AV presentation playing on a screen behind him on stage, meaning who knows what. I guess your interpretation is as good as mine.
All in all it was a good night and I got to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a while, too, so that was cool.