Joan As Police Woman At The Front Room

Having missed JAPW's previous two performances in London during August and September and also having failed to spot that she was playing in Dublin in late July when I was over there, I was looking forward to finally getting a chance to see her perform as the first ever act at the newly opened "Front Room" venue at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Monday

The Front Room turned out to be the foyer and is not, to my mind, the most successful venue for this type of music. Unless, that is, you're the type of person that doesn't mind your quiet, reflective musical performances being interspersed by the rustling of plastic sandwich wrappers and partly lit by distracting LCD TV screens announcing the venue's upcoming events.

Indeed, Joan herself commented laconically on the "interesting and strange" venue. She peppered the set with observations and funny stories, her languid drawl occasionally punctuated by an unexpectedly high-pitched, nervous laugh (for example, when describing the video for her new single, created by a fan, which shows her headless body squirting blood).

Sometimes it was difficult to tell when she was being serious, as when she described Eternal Flame as being about seeing the Status Of Liberty every morning from her apartment in Brooklyn. However, generally her conversational, intimate style was warm and inclusive, telling us about the designer who had made her dress, or dedicating We Don't Own It to Elliot Smith.

The gig covered most of the songs from the Real Life album, plus a handful of single B-sides and some new stuff. Of the album material, the quieter songs were beautifully performed. At the more vigorous end of the spectrum, Eternal Flame seemed to lose momentum, but Christobel thrashed and flailed with abandon.

Non-album material included R U Furious Yet? (a complex, piano-driven piece with flamenco-like clapping from band members and audience alike), Happiness Is A Violator (dedicated to Condoleeza Rice, who had inspired its key chorus lyric). As an encore, a breath-taking rendition of The Start Of My Heart took us back to the quieter end of her range.

Bowie's Sweet Thing was the second and final song of the encore, by which point most people had given up sitting in front of the stage and were standing instead, highlighting another venue shortcoming. The stage is barely raised off the floor and though I had crowded forward with everyone else it was still difficult to see her, even from less than ten feet away.

Venue deficiencies aside, this was a great gig. I will be going to see JAPW again as soon as possible. In the meantime, I am watching streaming video footage of her entire August gig at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on a daily basis. This is highly recommended and has the best sound quality of any live recording I've heard in a long time.

And now, of course, you're going to want to know exactly what that Condi-inspired lyric was. Shame I didn't write it down. It was something along the lines of "the decision was not mine to make" or "the decision was out of my hands." This track will be on the Christobel single, released on Monday, so I'll be able to refresh my memory next week.

Update: the Condi-lyric is "I have no choice."

Posted by Hg on Friday 20 October 2006 at 06:34.
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