Kristin Hersh Live In Leeds....

Written by Mart on unknown.

    Hello there,
                    I went to see Kristin Hersh at the City Varieties 
Theatre in Leeds last night, so here is a review....
        Vic Chestnut (the support act) came on the stage at about 
8:30pm, and proceeded to play a couple of acoustic songs on his 
guitar, and sing about men being in love with their dogs, and other 
(un)usual things...I don't know much about this guy, but he was sorta 
ok...Not really funny though..I guess you have to be in the right 
mood.
        However, Kristin took to the stage at around 9:45, and that's 
when things started to take off!!!  She played a number of songs from 
the album, but she also played no less than 4 throwing muses 
songs..So I was smiling quite a bit then....
        Here's the set list (not in order)
        
 Sundrops  (she actually opened with this tune)
 Houdini Blues
 Close Your Eyes
 A Loon
 Sparky
 Teeth
 Him Dancing
 Hips and Makers
 Amazing Grace
 Cuckoo
 Cottonmouth
 Red Shoes
 Pearl
 Me And My Charms
 The Key
 Uncle June And Aunt Kiyoti
 Tuesday Night (most apt :) )
 + one new song which I have never heard before (Maybe it was a cover 
version)

        Kristin admitted to not having a set list as such, she was 
just playing as she went along.  She played the first 6 songs without 
saying anything inbetween, and I feared that she might not talk to 
the crowd at all, but then she started to tell little anecdotes, 
which had the audience in stitches.
        After playing "Teeth", she told the audience about the show 
she played in New York, where this girl, (as the second "this 
Hairdo's truly evil" bit came around) started to shake in her chair 
and move across the floor, and how the girl then burst into tears and 
fell on her stomach.  Kristin said that she was thinking of stopping 
the show because she thought the girl was having a seizure or 
something, but after the song, the girl got up and clapped and seemed 
to be alright.
        Kristin then told of how the girl came up to her at the end 
of the show, and told her that she "Had a wonderful time"...and 
Kristin told the audience "Wow...Someone pays me ten bucks to see me, 
and then I make them cry, and they love it!..." and she said that she 
is gonna invite the girl around to her house and "make her cry for 
ten bucks" anytime :)        
        Kristin also talked about her babies, and how the one who's 
featured in her new video (I forgot his name) is caught in a frame 
where he is smiling and has his arms outstretched while he is running 
to Kristin, and she said that when she saw that, she burst into 
tears.  She also said that there are only two things in the world 
that make her cry, one, the babies, and two, the music.  
(Awwwwwwwwwwwwww).
        On the downside of things, Kristin's performance was 
occasionally "interrupted" by people stepping on plastic glasses 
(Which really made a loud, crunchy, disturbing noise!) as they came 
back from the bar/toilet.  Also, Before certain songs had ended, 
people clapped, thinking it was the end of the song (especially in "A 
Loon"-just before the quiet bit), but these are minor quibbles....
        The celloist was excellent, Kristin was amazing, playing her 
guitar flawless, and singing wonderfully...All in all a truly 
wonderful show.  If you have not been...Go and see her is my advice!
            After the show, I hung around with a few other people, in 
the hope that I might might this woman who means so much to me 
musically...And surely enough, she appeared after 20 minutes or so, 
to sign autographs and talk to the fans....
            I asked her about how she learned to play guitar, saying 
that her compositions use the "Chords from hell"!  (As all you 
guitarists out there sure know!!), and she replied, telling me that 
she started playing guitar when she "was nine years old and f**ked in 
the head".  I was nervous talking to her, and I thought that the best 
way to say "Thanks!" was to give her a hug, so I did!!  She seemed 
nicely surprised at that..(Indeed I was too, and it was quite 
wonderful to meet someone who I had been a big fan of for so 
many years)..and I left the Theatre smiling, reflecting on the gig 
and the talented Mrs. Hersh....       

                                Yours happily,
                                
                                        Martin J Clarke.
                                        
       "I cling to science and history like cancer doesn't grow"      
           


Back to the top