Oi You! You're Nicked!

Went along to The South Bank last night for the first time in ages to see the first gig at what was billed as The Front Room, but was in fact the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Not really a space that lends itself to this type of event, but I guess they think it's more R'n'R than the all seated venues they have. Joan As Policewoman, seems to be a big draw at the mo' as it was heavin'.

The support act was Songdog. I dragged Hywel along to see them at the teeny 12-Bar a few years ago. They are our age, from Blackwood and present a sobering lesson in what might have happened to us in an alternative universe if we'd continued to plough that barren musical furrow. The singer looks like Ned Beatty, with a badly fitted, thinning, spiky peroxide wig. I'd like to think I could have churned out better stuff than his sixth-form pop-cultural-referenced smut, but who knows. One of their songs includes the line; '...and the view from the very top of Twmbarlwm...' which is one of the mountains which overlooks the ex-mining village of Crosskeys. My dad used to take me for walks to the top, where there was a little burial mound, called The Tump. I remember we watched the alarmed flight of larks as we walked, and traced their starting points to find their nests, magically woven circles of long grass, with a fistful of gaping babies inside.

Joan herself was a much more satisfying kettle of fish. Jeff Buckley's ex, a member of Rufus's backing band, and former Johnson she's got a great voice and writes very interesting songs. Her guitar playing reminds me of Buckley, and her singing of Annette Peacock. I don't think she's the finished article yet, but is a huge talent, and gives the impression that she has plenty of room to develop. She was very wacky and giggly between songs, which was a wierd contrast with the songs themselves, 'here's yet another song about obsession' she dead-panned. She was backed with just drums and bass, the drums were over-miked and were way too loud. I think she needs a bigger band to bring out the subtleness of the melodies. The highlights were the songs she sang alone, the title track from her album 'Real Life' was spine tingling, and her final encore of an obscure David Bowie song, 'Sweet Thing', was an unexpected treat.