As soon as saw that kd lang was appearing at Hammersmith Apollo, or whatever pisspoor pisslager it's now named after, I decided I had to go. I got two tickets, and, to my surprise, himself agreed to come with me.
I did mention to him that the audience would be very female, and very dikey. Which may appear to be a strange, arguably homophobic, observation, but having seen kd before, it is remarkable. As soon as we came out of the tube, we noticed two dykes in cowboy gear "I wonder where they're going..." he said...
Let's gloss over the bit where I nearly got myself killed, trying to follow LBHF's appalling signs from Tube to Apollo, endorsed by the Apollo's own website. They might as well have said "Take life into own hands whilst dodging traffic on the Pedestrian crossing-lacking roundabout underneath Hammersmith Flyover, which is guaranteed to be heavy with traffic at 6.30 on a Sunday evening. Take special care not to place your foot in an abandoned bicycle lock attached to the railings on the traffic island and if you do fall down try not to do it headlong into traffic".
Actually, there is a logical route, involving Pedestrian Crossings - well, Zebras, which ought to be abolished - but that wasn't following the signs!
Of course, the queue for the Ladies was really long - I was not alone in threatening to take the Gents by storm - but in fairness, the provision of many cubicles at least meant that the queue was fast-moving. And when I emerged, my not exceptionally-tall-at-six-foot-partner was easy to spot as one of the tallest people in the packed bar.
In the crowd, I spotted my friend Jude, who I haven't seen for years. That's the trouble with the Labour Party. it's structured and locally organised, so when someone moves away, you don't have the instinct to contact them and arrange to meet up - spontaneous socialising emanates from conversations after meetings and events. she said she would never have expected to see me at a kd lang concert. I did point out that I have most of her CDs and saw her in Brighton a dozen or so years back.
It made me think, though. I'm a kd fan because I love her music and have done so since 1990. Her sexual orientation is not of the slightest concern to me. I wonder how many of the people were there because of her symbol as a high profile lesbian. Which is fine, and I have no grumbles. But I like the music.
The support artist was Amy Smith, who has a really fantastic voice. She writes her own stuff, which isn't very good, but her voice is a dream. Consensus in the loos was "Great voice, same about the songs..."
After the interval kd came on, to hysteria (and that was just in my seat). she sang a variety of songs from over the years, although mainly from Ingenue, Drag, and Hymns of the 49th Parallel. She doesn't take herself seriously at all on stage, which is great. I can't stand these people with attitude. Although she takes her singing very seriously.
Now that is a voice. A truly great voice, with resonance, musicality and beauty. Sometimes you hear people and think they sound much better on CD, but she is one who really has to be heard live. It's a shame she was only on for an hour-and-a-quarter, because I could have happily have listened to her all night. The highlights were Hallelujah - which ought to be riding high in the Singles chart, if the chart means anything, if adults bothered buying singles, if anyone gave a shit. I thought it great on a Leonard Cohen CD, but, wow, kd really is Queen of the Covers; Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray (Patsy Cline tribute); the medley of her hit - Constant Craving; and Miss Chatelaine. I remembered the projected bubbles effect going round and round the arena from Brighton in 1992. I loved it then, but had quite forgotten it, but I remembered it again.
She had a backing band of four, plus 35 strings of the London Phil (well, 140 strings in total, but 35 musicians/instrumentalists)
Just a word on Hammersmith Apollo. I have never been before, but, apart from the difficulties getting there, not least because it lies west of Earls Court, I love it. I reckon it could do with a lick of paint, or, rather, a full refurbishment - although facilities were fine. It is an Art Deco theatre, quite possibly a former cinema, and retains some rather gorgeous Art Deco detail. From Row F in the circle we had clear sightlines (except when people stood up) and the acoustics were really very very good. Acoustics or sound system, or both.
Note to self, this photo was taken by widening the aperture as far as possible - in this case F3. Shutter speed was 1/60.
To conclude, a very enjoyable and excellently high quality concert. Jimmy thoroughly enjoyed it too, believing her voice to be even better than on CD.