Goldfrapp

[redbrain]

Having been to see Goldfrapp at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday night, this morning I described the show in a letter to my friend Nemonymous. I hope he won’t mind, but I posted on the Goldfrapp Message Board a slightly modified version of what I’d written to him. He’ll probably read it there before he receives my letter. Now, I’m posting another variation here – which he will almost certainly read before I complete so much as the first page of his letter.

After Goldfrapp the night before, I found it hard to settle to anything yesterday. Still half in Frappland, perhaps. Of the five Goldfrapp shows I’ve seen, that of the night before last was – in some wise – the most extreme. The sound was enormous – filling the huge space. I don’t just mean that it was loud, although some of it may also have been loud. The lights, combined with the stage set, were awe-inspiring. Actually, the stage set wasn’t complex – the stage often seemed full of people – Alison, lots of musicians, dancers, half a dozen backing singers. Alison, in harlequin top, white shorts, bare legs and feet, radiated a china-doll beauty. There was a totem, crowned with antlers and swathed with ribbons, towering over the people. Behind, were large rushwork panels. Through much of the first half, I thought of a pagan rite – the lights throwing the totem into silhouette, the rush paneling recalling the Wicker Man, the lighting often eldritch. Then, sometimes, the stage exploded into colour. When, at last, the dancers came on, they were two girls in short white floaty dresses, woodland nymphs, perhaps. As they cavorted, their hems floated up exposing their white knickers and even, once, the bottom of a white bra. The nymphs cavorted for a second time to “Caravan Girl”. Towards the end of the song, I saw that the totem had lost its swathing of ribbons and was now an antler-topped shining metal pole. As the song drew to its close, the nymphs slid from their dresses to perform a pole dance. Alison and the band – and dancers – seemed to be enjoying themselves – and the audience was enthusiastic. The songs were a mix from all four albums. The lovely wolf ladies were back for “Train” – and “Strict Machine” formed a rousing climax to an evening of delight.

For those of you who don’t know Goldfrapp, I will explain that “the lovely wolf ladies” is how Alison Goldfrapp described her wolf-headed dancers. They were a feature of Goldfrapp’s Supernature tour – writhing on stage wearing wolf head masks and small earth-coloured bikinis.