could we be together?
Ah. It has been brought to my attention that I haven't yet posted about Goldfrapp. About, you know, seeing Goldfrapp perform at the Opera House. My goddess. omg.
It was pretty much ...
... magic.
*nods*
Yep.
So much so that I still can't quite believe it happened. And only this week managed to talk about it to one of the girls at work cos the silly girl went to Parklife and didn't get to see them perform there! You can imagine the volume of my indignation. "But they were headlining! GOLDFRAPP! How could you not?!"
So it was me and the Laurie Anderson Court Assistant and her friend and mikey66e. We had a rather posh dinner at the Quayside Brasserie after Mikey gave me the heart attack of a lifetime via a text that said "Hey, is Goldfrapp tonight or tomorrow night?" Funny, yeah, very funny. All people laughing their heads off at that can line up over there out of my hearing. Ha.
And I was totally overdressed and undercovered at exactly the same time because of the strapless red dress and the bomber jacket and it being rather too fucking hot to wear a bomber jacket. Bought new black beads and brought the Catwoman stilettos out of storage. I made an effort, yeah, and felt more than a little selfconscious.
Although it was rather ironic that I did cos just the night before, I found pictures from Melbourne's Parklife and a news item that said no more colossally high heels for Alison cos she injured her back earlier this year so now she performs barefoot. And there was me tottering up the heaven steps of the Opera House. *lol* Oh irony, thou art a bitch of the finest pedigree.
Mind you, I am glad I found those pix cos there were a few close-ups that shocked me a little. My goddess was looking a bit ragged around the edges, a bit older and unprettier than I'd expected. So my expectations were suitably adjusted for our night together.
The merch was a little underwhelming but quite nicely priced. Couldn't get a tee because both were white and I don't do white. So settled for a set of badges and the tote bag which proved to be a most fortuitous purchase, la! Cos by then, I was hobbling, fuck yes. And the lady usher totally made it worth the agony because as I hobbled towards her, ticket in hand, going "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," she said of her own volition "If it makes you feel any better, you look awesome!"
I was so embarrassed because it really did. *lol*
After all my fretting and the LACA's teasing, our seats turned out to be pretty damned excellent. I didn't want to be too close in case we inadvertantly got to look up Alison's dress or choke on dry ice spilling off the stage. As it was, middle and just to one side which would normally bug me a little but would you believe it? The three seats in front of us were empty the entire night so Mikey and I at least had a completely unimpaired view. It was kinda wonderful.
Very mixed crowd of pretty girls and equally pretty gay boys, exactly what I expected. And I was quite pleased to see I wasn't the only who glammed up to the nth degree. Totally packed out Concert Hall. The silver donuts were raised right up to the inner point and the stage was extraordinarily crowded with instruments plus a little orchestral section to our side, two standing harps, and an honest to god maypole with ribbons in front of the clown diamond patterned backdrop. It was all very Seventh Tree and I still couldn't quite believe we were there to see Alison freaking Goldfrapp and Will freaking Gregory.
Bertie Blackman was supporting. I had a listen to the one track on her Last FM page and was a bit perplexed because the track I vaguely remembered hearing on the radio was way cooler. She came on, this tiny girl in plaid with an electric guitar, very Eighties asymmetrical high on the nape jet black hair, accompanied by a guy on keys/synths. And proceeded to play a fairly blistering set that alternated song by song between fucking awesome and forgettable. When she rocked the guitar, the songs were amazing. Loved her voice, the kind of raw powerful but capable of sweetness female voice I and any Goldfrapp fan would adore. Certainly she got very appreciative applause and I made a mental note to track down an album.
When Goldfrapp came on, it was in dribs and drabs, no big fanfare. The string section, all women, all in white. You could totally feel the thrill that went through the entire audience. Cos omg Goldfrapp with strings?! So gonna be an awesome gig! And then the band came on, all in white, wonderful hippies with ribbons bound around their foreheads. I had absolutely no idea who was Will and was totally kicking myself for not hunting down recent pix. I still have this image of him from the Black Cherry artwork which is so long ago.
When Alison came on, no fanfare, no amazing lights, just pattered up from the side of the stage, barefoot, in her black and white silken clown smock, her hair a cloud of golden curls, I expected the roar to lift the roof. It didn't. Quite possible the audience was as much in dumbfounded awe as I was.
The setlist, from what I can remember and supported by this: Paper Bag, A&E, Utopia, Cologne Cerrone Houdini, You Never Know, Satin Chic, Clowns, Little Bird, Happiness, Train, Ooh La La, Caravan Girl, Number 1. Encore: Eat Yourself, Black Cherry, Monster Love. Second encore: Strict Machine, Some People.
And you know, now that I'm looking at it set out like that, FUCK YES IT WAS MAGIC! Omg look at that setlist! Perfectly spread out over the four albums, and so excellently alternating between dancey and dreamy. And omg Felt Mountain songs with the violins!
The moment they began Utopia, the gay boys to my right practically fell over themselves. I froze, unable to believe my eyes or ears. It was then that I had to lean forward, elbows on knees, hands covering my mouth. I don't think I blinked more than twenty times during that entire show. And during Utopia? Prolly about twice. Holy mother of fuck.
There are no words. No words at all. Totally transcendental. Those notes she soars at the start of the song, the way she stands with the light glowing her hair into an aura of gold and her arms aloft, the silken sleeves winged out, and that voice filling the Concert Hall of the Opera House with such unearthly beauty. If I wasn't so rigid with awe, I would have cried. No words.
And then, THEN they only followed it up with MY MOST FAVOURITE SONG! I pretty much turned and clutched at Michael at that point, hissed "My favourite song!" Omigod, to see the jab of the violins, to know exactly when to look at them and when to look at her, to watch it all come together ... oh christ.
I haven't been able to listen to any Goldfrapp since the gig. Just couldn't bring myself to touch the memory. And now, now to hear it is making my entire body prickle over with gooseflesh. I saw that song performed. I saw it. Saw her sing it, the words in my throat, the words in my head, the melody moving through me, moving through her, the colours and shapes and reality of her. Oh fuck.
Words do not suffice.
And images were projected onto the backdrop, colours and psychedelic swirls and electroglam patterns. When the dancey numbers kicked in, omg ... we danced. We actually stood up and danced in the Concert Hall. First time I have ever been sweaty and hot in the Opera House. There were strobes. STROBES! In the Opera House! And we sang along, bellowed out the choruses. When the songs went quiet, we sat down and were good. When the beat kicked in and reverberated around the wood, we jumped up. There were a few girls dancing in the upper aisles. Some people dancing right up in the nosebleed seats. It was unreal. It was incredible. So much awed love, artless and genuine and true.
And that reputation Alison has for being all cold and forbidding, for being scarily intimidating? She so totally wasn't. She was nervous! And I had even prepared myself with the DVD for her to be stoned and all slurry and monosyllabic. She wasn't! Okay, she didn't say much for a very long time and at one point even ventured "I will say something interesting eventually." Which just made me love her even more. I turned to Michael and yelled something to the effect of "Not so much stoned as totally nervous!" I was so delighted, so touched. Alison Goldfrapp my goddess, nervous. *hugs her and hugs her and hugs her*
Eventually she said that they had been looking forward to this gig for a long time. Which awwww, totally made it sound like it was a huge thing for them to be performing at the Opera House. I mean, yeah, it's a huge thing for us as fans but you're never quite sure if it is for the performers too.
I did realise though that in comparison to the other albums, Seventh Tree has my least amount of favourite songs so in a way, those tracks were the closest things to dead spots in the set list for me. Aside from Happiness because omg that just soared and layered and resounded like the most awesome example of psychedelic gorgeosity that it is, totally delivered live the promise that the album makes. And the way they elaborated and extended the finish on Little Bird kinda made my eyes go huge with awe. So. Fucking. Amazing.
And she played the theremin! *squeees head off* It was so hot! And to see her do the trills on You Never Know had the sense of Kate Bush all around me. *wails* And she did her little marching thing, her bare feet so lovely and real, her hair all fluffy and bouncy.
It went by fast. When they went off, I turned to Michael to say as much and he agreed. But we clapped and cheered and ah fuck there was drumming of the feet in the Opera House. And they did two sets of encores, seemed very touched by the applause. Several people yelled out for Black Cherry and so she sang that. I was a little disappointed there was no Twist but Strict Machine totally made up for that cos omg, the flashes and the crashes and the dancing!
And yeah, I totally danced in my stiletto boots cos the spirit overwhelmed the killing flesh. Of course came to regret that in a while and decided to take the boots off which is when the tote bag proved itself fortuitous cos ha, can't do that with a tee! It was excellent. Kinda floated/hobbled out, absolutely unwilling to come down. Came home and crashed into the pillow. Unable to speak of it til now.
Cos it was Goldfrapp and it was incredible and I could not have asked for a better night. Oh Christ. Do you realise I've seen Anton Newcombe and Alison Goldfrapp in the same year? Jee --- *chokes and keels over*
And do I believe now? Possibly not. It actually happened? No way! Way? Way! Homigod.
Pix, zomg.
It was pretty much ...
... magic.
*nods*
Yep.
So much so that I still can't quite believe it happened. And only this week managed to talk about it to one of the girls at work cos the silly girl went to Parklife and didn't get to see them perform there! You can imagine the volume of my indignation. "But they were headlining! GOLDFRAPP! How could you not?!"
So it was me and the Laurie Anderson Court Assistant and her friend and mikey66e. We had a rather posh dinner at the Quayside Brasserie after Mikey gave me the heart attack of a lifetime via a text that said "Hey, is Goldfrapp tonight or tomorrow night?" Funny, yeah, very funny. All people laughing their heads off at that can line up over there out of my hearing. Ha.
And I was totally overdressed and undercovered at exactly the same time because of the strapless red dress and the bomber jacket and it being rather too fucking hot to wear a bomber jacket. Bought new black beads and brought the Catwoman stilettos out of storage. I made an effort, yeah, and felt more than a little selfconscious.
Although it was rather ironic that I did cos just the night before, I found pictures from Melbourne's Parklife and a news item that said no more colossally high heels for Alison cos she injured her back earlier this year so now she performs barefoot. And there was me tottering up the heaven steps of the Opera House. *lol* Oh irony, thou art a bitch of the finest pedigree.
Mind you, I am glad I found those pix cos there were a few close-ups that shocked me a little. My goddess was looking a bit ragged around the edges, a bit older and unprettier than I'd expected. So my expectations were suitably adjusted for our night together.
The merch was a little underwhelming but quite nicely priced. Couldn't get a tee because both were white and I don't do white. So settled for a set of badges and the tote bag which proved to be a most fortuitous purchase, la! Cos by then, I was hobbling, fuck yes. And the lady usher totally made it worth the agony because as I hobbled towards her, ticket in hand, going "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," she said of her own volition "If it makes you feel any better, you look awesome!"
I was so embarrassed because it really did. *lol*
After all my fretting and the LACA's teasing, our seats turned out to be pretty damned excellent. I didn't want to be too close in case we inadvertantly got to look up Alison's dress or choke on dry ice spilling off the stage. As it was, middle and just to one side which would normally bug me a little but would you believe it? The three seats in front of us were empty the entire night so Mikey and I at least had a completely unimpaired view. It was kinda wonderful.
Very mixed crowd of pretty girls and equally pretty gay boys, exactly what I expected. And I was quite pleased to see I wasn't the only who glammed up to the nth degree. Totally packed out Concert Hall. The silver donuts were raised right up to the inner point and the stage was extraordinarily crowded with instruments plus a little orchestral section to our side, two standing harps, and an honest to god maypole with ribbons in front of the clown diamond patterned backdrop. It was all very Seventh Tree and I still couldn't quite believe we were there to see Alison freaking Goldfrapp and Will freaking Gregory.
Bertie Blackman was supporting. I had a listen to the one track on her Last FM page and was a bit perplexed because the track I vaguely remembered hearing on the radio was way cooler. She came on, this tiny girl in plaid with an electric guitar, very Eighties asymmetrical high on the nape jet black hair, accompanied by a guy on keys/synths. And proceeded to play a fairly blistering set that alternated song by song between fucking awesome and forgettable. When she rocked the guitar, the songs were amazing. Loved her voice, the kind of raw powerful but capable of sweetness female voice I and any Goldfrapp fan would adore. Certainly she got very appreciative applause and I made a mental note to track down an album.
When Goldfrapp came on, it was in dribs and drabs, no big fanfare. The string section, all women, all in white. You could totally feel the thrill that went through the entire audience. Cos omg Goldfrapp with strings?! So gonna be an awesome gig! And then the band came on, all in white, wonderful hippies with ribbons bound around their foreheads. I had absolutely no idea who was Will and was totally kicking myself for not hunting down recent pix. I still have this image of him from the Black Cherry artwork which is so long ago.
When Alison came on, no fanfare, no amazing lights, just pattered up from the side of the stage, barefoot, in her black and white silken clown smock, her hair a cloud of golden curls, I expected the roar to lift the roof. It didn't. Quite possible the audience was as much in dumbfounded awe as I was.
The setlist, from what I can remember and supported by this: Paper Bag, A&E, Utopia, Cologne Cerrone Houdini, You Never Know, Satin Chic, Clowns, Little Bird, Happiness, Train, Ooh La La, Caravan Girl, Number 1. Encore: Eat Yourself, Black Cherry, Monster Love. Second encore: Strict Machine, Some People.
And you know, now that I'm looking at it set out like that, FUCK YES IT WAS MAGIC! Omg look at that setlist! Perfectly spread out over the four albums, and so excellently alternating between dancey and dreamy. And omg Felt Mountain songs with the violins!
The moment they began Utopia, the gay boys to my right practically fell over themselves. I froze, unable to believe my eyes or ears. It was then that I had to lean forward, elbows on knees, hands covering my mouth. I don't think I blinked more than twenty times during that entire show. And during Utopia? Prolly about twice. Holy mother of fuck.
There are no words. No words at all. Totally transcendental. Those notes she soars at the start of the song, the way she stands with the light glowing her hair into an aura of gold and her arms aloft, the silken sleeves winged out, and that voice filling the Concert Hall of the Opera House with such unearthly beauty. If I wasn't so rigid with awe, I would have cried. No words.
And then, THEN they only followed it up with MY MOST FAVOURITE SONG! I pretty much turned and clutched at Michael at that point, hissed "My favourite song!" Omigod, to see the jab of the violins, to know exactly when to look at them and when to look at her, to watch it all come together ... oh christ.
I haven't been able to listen to any Goldfrapp since the gig. Just couldn't bring myself to touch the memory. And now, now to hear it is making my entire body prickle over with gooseflesh. I saw that song performed. I saw it. Saw her sing it, the words in my throat, the words in my head, the melody moving through me, moving through her, the colours and shapes and reality of her. Oh fuck.
Words do not suffice.
And images were projected onto the backdrop, colours and psychedelic swirls and electroglam patterns. When the dancey numbers kicked in, omg ... we danced. We actually stood up and danced in the Concert Hall. First time I have ever been sweaty and hot in the Opera House. There were strobes. STROBES! In the Opera House! And we sang along, bellowed out the choruses. When the songs went quiet, we sat down and were good. When the beat kicked in and reverberated around the wood, we jumped up. There were a few girls dancing in the upper aisles. Some people dancing right up in the nosebleed seats. It was unreal. It was incredible. So much awed love, artless and genuine and true.
And that reputation Alison has for being all cold and forbidding, for being scarily intimidating? She so totally wasn't. She was nervous! And I had even prepared myself with the DVD for her to be stoned and all slurry and monosyllabic. She wasn't! Okay, she didn't say much for a very long time and at one point even ventured "I will say something interesting eventually." Which just made me love her even more. I turned to Michael and yelled something to the effect of "Not so much stoned as totally nervous!" I was so delighted, so touched. Alison Goldfrapp my goddess, nervous. *hugs her and hugs her and hugs her*
Eventually she said that they had been looking forward to this gig for a long time. Which awwww, totally made it sound like it was a huge thing for them to be performing at the Opera House. I mean, yeah, it's a huge thing for us as fans but you're never quite sure if it is for the performers too.
I did realise though that in comparison to the other albums, Seventh Tree has my least amount of favourite songs so in a way, those tracks were the closest things to dead spots in the set list for me. Aside from Happiness because omg that just soared and layered and resounded like the most awesome example of psychedelic gorgeosity that it is, totally delivered live the promise that the album makes. And the way they elaborated and extended the finish on Little Bird kinda made my eyes go huge with awe. So. Fucking. Amazing.
And she played the theremin! *squeees head off* It was so hot! And to see her do the trills on You Never Know had the sense of Kate Bush all around me. *wails* And she did her little marching thing, her bare feet so lovely and real, her hair all fluffy and bouncy.
It went by fast. When they went off, I turned to Michael to say as much and he agreed. But we clapped and cheered and ah fuck there was drumming of the feet in the Opera House. And they did two sets of encores, seemed very touched by the applause. Several people yelled out for Black Cherry and so she sang that. I was a little disappointed there was no Twist but Strict Machine totally made up for that cos omg, the flashes and the crashes and the dancing!
And yeah, I totally danced in my stiletto boots cos the spirit overwhelmed the killing flesh. Of course came to regret that in a while and decided to take the boots off which is when the tote bag proved itself fortuitous cos ha, can't do that with a tee! It was excellent. Kinda floated/hobbled out, absolutely unwilling to come down. Came home and crashed into the pillow. Unable to speak of it til now.
Cos it was Goldfrapp and it was incredible and I could not have asked for a better night. Oh Christ. Do you realise I've seen Anton Newcombe and Alison Goldfrapp in the same year? Jee --- *chokes and keels over*
And do I believe now? Possibly not. It actually happened? No way! Way? Way! Homigod.
Pix, zomg.