Kate Nash @ The Old Firestation
Posted by Allana Cutter on March 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment
(As published for Listed Magazine)
The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth
Support: Brigitte Aphrodite
If you thought that “girl power” died out when the Spice Girls separated, you’d better think again.
London’s Kate Nash has a bee in her bonnet after learning that just 14% of PRP (that’s the company that pays artists royalties when their songs are played) goes to female songwriters, and yesterday’s gig was a perfect opportunity to aid the launch of her After School Rock N Roll Club for Girls.
The show opened with a video of interview clips with various female artists that Kate had recorded to illustrate her case, including some points from yesterday’s eclectic opening act, Brigitte Aphrodite.
Following the video, Brigitte and her band took to the stage donned in gold glitter. As Kate’s support, it was to be expected that Brigitte would be a little be quirky and very enthusiastic. Her style and persona were reflected in the titles and the lyrics of her songs, which included Streets of Bromley, Miss Hedonistic and Dance With a Stranger. The subject matter of each song kept the audience laughing and promising to download her first single, I Dream Myself Awake.
With the audience nicely warmed up, a thunderstorm erupted and Kate’s all girl band got into position, before she entered in a cut-out black mini dress, cat-style hat and black hearts on her cheeks.
Kicking off with I Just Love You More and Do-Wah-Doo, the audience lapped up Kate’s passion and her homemade-looking set of a giant umbrella lamp and curtain backdrop.
She continued to play crowd-pleaser Mouthwash before asking for her keyboard microphone to be fixed and disappearing outside. Having left the stage, her band were left looking utterly confused and desperately trying to fill the silence with an impromptu jam. Eventually she returned, revealing that she had gone to put on some lipstick because she felt “naked” without it.
She slipped back into performing Don’t You Want to Share the Guilt? and then introduced her anti-homophobic song I’ve Got A Secret. She also performed her poem Mansion Song, before overenthusiastically shouting and screeching the last lines – something that I felt had a detrimental effect on what had been a beautiful singing voice for the rest of the gig.
Throughout the gig Kate stayed fairly quiet, apart from uttering a few thank you’s after songs, which seemed to contradict the delivery of her message of girls needing to be confident in themselves and in their talents. In the silence the crowd chanted “Birds” over and over in a bid to get her to play the song, to which she replied “No!”
The mood became much more upbeat with the start of Mariella, leading to her number one hit Foundations and Merry Happy. She thanked the crowd again before leaving the stage, only to return for an encore of crowd favourite Birds and Pumpkin Soup. This time Kate thanked the crowd with much more aplomb and handed out a large number of booklets detailing her After School Rock N Roll Club for Girls project.
I personally hope young girls do sit up, listen and take action to follow in Kate Nash’s footsteps, as she is a perfect example of how you can let you talent and individuality become more than just a hobby.
- See also: Kate Nash: Do Wah Doo
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Filed under Gigs, Reviews · Tagged with After School Rock N Roll Club for Girls, Bournemouth, Brigitte Aphrodite, Kate Nash, Listed Magazine, Old Fire Station
