Outings

[trixtah]

(not that kind, that was 21 years ago)

The delightful saluqi bought us tickets to go see Broad for my birthday last month, and the concert was last night. It's an ensemble of women singer/songwriters put together by Deborah Conway, with a range of styles from the individual performers. While not one of them is a performer I'd go see individually, the show was definitely one where the whole was better (for me) than the sum of its parts. It certainly helps that all of the performers are good musicians and singers, and did a great job together.

Abby Mae was the standout individual performer for me. Interesting blues-flavoured songs, and a fantastic voice which sounded like a cross between Chrissy Amphlette and Stevie Nicks (IMO). Also, she was a dab hand with the ukulele and theremin (also, you haven't lived until you've heard Alice Cooper covered on the uke - not by Abby Mae, I hasten to add).

Deborah Conway rolled out a rousing rendition of Man Overboard, although we weren't quite sure what was up with the big grin on her face throughout. Mind you, I don't think I could sing the line about pubic hair with a straight face either. It was also nice that the lesbian fangirls (of which there were many) restrained themselves from dancing in the aisles. A couple of them attempted a standing ovation at the end of the show, but it didn't take. Oh well.

There were a few quibbles. One of the performers, Sally Seltmann, does the naive waifish thing, which irritates me no end musically (and personally, when I encounter such people older than their teens). While I'm fine with lyrics about flowers, the juxtaposition with bubbles lost me. Also, unfortunately, her voice was nowhere near as powerful as any of the others, and it showed up badly in the rocky ensemble pieces. The volume was up too loud for the concrete shell that is the Canberra Centre. The backing drum and bass were cranked up way too loud. They overpowered the main performers - there were times where I couldn't even make out the lead singer's lyrics.

Despite those quibbles, it was an excellent night out, even with saluqi soldiering on through the end of a nasty cold. I'm very happy and grateful she treated me with this. :-D

Comments

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you two had a good time :-)

[saluqi.livejournal.com]

Well, thank-you for coping with a coughing and tissue wrangling gig date and for feeding me healthy thai curry before we went.

One thing about purchasing tix in advance, if you get struck by lurgy there's not a lot that can be done. I agree with you about the sound, the backing blokes were way, way too loud, especially in that venue.

Anne McCue was handy with a guitar tho' :)

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Well, feeding you was the very least I could do. :-)

And bad me for neglecting to mention Laid-Back Guitar Chick with the mean lap steel guitar work!

Man overboard

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, I'm from holland and My best friend turns 40 next week and this is one of her favourite songs.I'm looking on the internet but can't find the song on any site to download, can you help?

Re: Man overboard

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

You can probably buy it here: http://bigpondmusic.com/Album/Deborah-Conway/Only-The-Bones-The-Best-Of.aspx
(you can apparently purchase per track - you don't have to get the entire album, although your friend may like it).