What have you heard?

I was minding my own business on Wednesday morning when my mobile phone rang. Turns out it was XFM telling me I had won tickets to go see the Gossip play that evening at a tiny venue, the Camden Barfly. To be honest, I had forgotten I'd even entered, so it was quite a surprise, but I'm not going to turn down a free concert....

So, Susie and I ventered into depeest darkest Camden (it wasn't so bad, not so many weirdos) to see the concert, and it was really small (maybe holds 200 people), but it was still a proper gig with support acts and everything.

First up were the quite entertaining Peggy Sue and the Pirates (although there was only two of them, so maybe pirates is a bit misleading). Anyway, two girls, one guitar (which they alternated playing) and some catchy tunes meant could only mean good entertainment.

Next up were Blood Red Shoes, who, to be honest, weren't as entertaining, and seemed a bit bereft of lyrics as a lot of the songs had repeating lines. Again there was only two of them, this time a boy/girl combination, but the boy did sometimes sound like a girl (maybe he hasn't hit puberty yet, who knows). They were a bit screechy for my tastes, kind of like the Subways but not as good.

And then the main event. For those that don't know, Beth Ditto (lead singer of the gossip) is seen (by the NME at least) as the coolest girl around (well, she did top the 2006 cool list). She is also slightly on the portyly side, and appears to have cultivated a habit of stripping to her underwear on stage, which, depending on your viewpoint, is not always pretty, especially with the jiggling she does, although that could be quite hypnotic. In this show, though, she only stayed in her underwear for a couple of songs, and put her dress back on for reasons that were a bit too much information (a clue might be that she also threw several sanitary towels into the audience before the gig started).

One thing I can say for her though is that she does have a tremendous voice, and, even though some of the songs are a bit samey (lots of whooooaaas in them), it was quite enjoyable seeing them in such an intimate arena as they have played much larger venues recently. Seeing them is a slight exaggeration, as I had some tall people around me so I didn't get the best of views....in fact, I thought the guitarist was wearing a nightie until I saw it was just a t-shirt and he had jeans on....it did look like a nightie though.

The show was being recorded for XFM's X-posure show, hosted by John Kennedy, but he was there when the show was on the radio...how could that be. I talked to him and found out that they used to do the shows live from their concerts, but then logistics got in the way, so the show was actually pre-recorded, with gaps to put in some live music as and when. It was weird getting into the car on the way back and hearing him on the radio knowing that it wasn't actually live and we had just talked to him.

Here's the Gossip's most famous song for those that haven't heard them: -