The Unthanks have been around for 10 years now and are going on tour to celebrate that fact. That does, of course, include time spent being called Rachel Unthanks & The Wintersetand that's what I first saw them as in 2009 in the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House. They always seem to pick the right venues for them. Rachel mentioned a couple of times that Union Chapel was her favourite venue and, with the lighting, the Christmas Tree, and the backlit rose window, it was certainly very atmospheric.
The set opened with Rachel and Becky singing together and gradually welcoming the band on stage, slowly growing until we had the full band of 10 members including strings and brass. Just voices to the small band to the big band, touching on the albums over the last ten years. Rachel and Becky were both in sparkly frocks for the start of the festive season and the gorgeous lighting and Christmas Tree in the corner near the stage made it feel like the start of Christmas, especially when, for the encore, the rose window of the chapel was lit. That was really a very nice effect. I haven't seen them with such a 'big' light show before, so they were clearly putting their all into these 10th anniversary performances.
It was a show of two halves with a break in the middle to get drinks or merch - I chose to get merch in the form of the new rarities album which both lasses signed for me. I also had a little chat with Becky about growing up in the same village - years apart, obviously.
Favourite songs of the evening included 'On A Monday Morning', 'Lucky Gilchrist', 'King Of Rome', 'The Romantic Tees' and 'Shipbuilding'. One of the last songs was their new Christmas song, '2000 Miles', which sounded excellent and is on the new album 'Archive Treasures'. The encore was 'Tar Barrel In Dale', a previous Christmas song, and a lovely version of 'Here's The Tender Coming' followed by lots of clapping.
It was lovely to see the lasses and The Unthanks again and listen to their thoughtful, gentle music again. Come back again soon.
How is it possible that I was graced with the presence of Amanda Palmer over a month ago and I haven't yet blogged about it? I don't understand that at all! So it's time to make up for it.
I saw Amanda at Union Chapel on 8 June, the show that was filmed in its entirety courtesy of the Patrons (of which I am one, through the Patreon system). It's available to watch on YouTube and is posted below - scroll in 35 minutes for Amanda walking on stage in all her shimmering and golden pregnancy.
I've seen Amanda play there a couple of times before so she knows the space and knows how to work it. I suspect that's why she starts out with a voice-only folk song and how great her voice sounds, powerful and sweeping as she sings out from the pulpit. And yes, it really is a pulpit since it's a working church that also hosts gigs, shows films and hosts performance events. And you sit on pews. On that night, I was up in the balcony so had a great view of the stage.
Amanda was on stage for over two hours playing a mix of Dresden Dolls songs, covers and her solo songs. Caitlin Moran came on as a guest to do a reading from her latest book and some banter and Le Gateau Chocolat did a song. It was a fun show but I worried about her being barefoot on that stage. Favourite moments included the lovely, heart-felt 'Ampersand', the minxy 'Map of Tasmania', the sad 'The Bed Song', 'Delilah' and a most fabulous 'Leeds United' as the closer. It was nice to hear 'Astronaut' for the first time in ages - that was the opening song when she toured her first album. A song I never enjoy is 'Bigger on the Inside', a song Amanda wrote during the bad times a couple of years ago when she was villified across the internet and starts off, 'You'd think I shot their children...'. It makes me angry. How dare they. It's at 1:57:00 in the video.
Watch the video and you'll get a much better feel for what the gig was like rather than anything I can write. I've seen Amanda many times now but this was a special gig that will linger in the memory. She is so much bigger than when I saw her early solo shows at places like Bush Hall and the ICA and the shows are slicker and more professional with better lights and sound. At one point she asked if anyone in the audience had been there back in 2009 for her last shows at Union Chapel and there weren't many of us. She has grown in stature since then. Maybe this show was special since it's been so long since the last live gigs? Maybe. But I wrote in my notebook after writing down the setlist,'I fell in love with AFP again tonight' and I did.
The way to experience Amanda Fucking Palmer is live on stage and I'm so glad she managed to come back to London before the baby comes since it'll probably be a while before we see her afterwards. Thank you Amanda.
But wait, there's more! A couple of days later Amanda was at Waterstone's book shop in Trafalgar Square for a signing and it's been so long since I've had an Amanda-hug (and I've never had a pregnant Amanda-hug). We joined the queue at about 6pm and it already snaked around the shop.So many people to see one pregnant lady. The queue continued snaking away behind us. And then Amanda appeared, walked through the queue smiling her head off and going into the back rooms to get ready and take her place at the signing table... Three and a half hours later we finally bask in the presence of AFP, so many times after a gig but those days are gone.
She has this amazing ability to focus on you and just you to the exclusion of everyone else - it feels like you are at the centre of the world for those seconds or minutes... or at least that's how she made me feel. And I got the long-awaited hug too! And she wrote 'Punk cabaret is freedom' in my copy of her book, the most important Dolls slogan. My cup runneth over.
It's ten years since I first saw Amanda play and sing at Patti Smith's Meltdown festival on the Southbank and that's when I got my first autograph and met her when I bought the Dolls' first album from the merch stand. Who'd have guessed I'd still be seeing her ten years later? As a wise man said to you in Waterstone's, Amanda, if the bad times come again just remember that you are loved. Because you are.
Was it worth queuing for three and a half hours to meet Amanda for a couple of minutes? O yes.
The Unthanks have been around for 10 years now and are going on tour to celebrate that fact. That does, of course, include time spent being called Rachel Unthanks & The Winterset and that's what I first saw them as in 2009 in the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House. They always seem to pick the right venues for them. Rachel mentioned a couple of times that Union Chapel was her favourite venue and, with the lighting, the Christmas Tree, and the backlit rose window, it was certainly very atmospheric.
The set opened with Rachel and Becky singing together and gradually welcoming the band on stage, slowly growing until we had the full band of 10 members including strings and brass. Just voices to the small band to the big band, touching on the albums over the last ten years. Rachel and Becky were both in sparkly frocks for the start of the festive season and the gorgeous lighting and Christmas Tree in the corner near the stage made it feel like the start of Christmas, especially when, for the encore, the rose window of the chapel was lit. That was really a very nice effect. I haven't seen them with such a 'big' light show before, so they were clearly putting their all into these 10th anniversary performances.
