Thursday 9 September 2010

359 TANYA DONELLY, Arnold, Bristol Fleece, Thursday 25 September 1997


Drove up on my own for this one, arriving just as support Arnold were rounding off a pleasant guitar set, which was only marred by a dirge-like, Radiohead-like closer. The rest of the Swindon posse turned up at 9.15, thanks to Beef taking the wrong turn on the M4 and heading towards London! Bizarre! By then I'd already ran into former Throwing Muses drummer David Narcizo, who was drumming for Tanya tonight.

Tanya came on solo at 9.45, and ran through an old Belly number and an acoustic newie, before being joined onstage by her band of troubadours, including former Juliana Hatfield bassist and hubby Dean Fisher, and the aforementioned David. An intriguing hour's entertainment followed, with Tanya drawing mainly from her bruised, spooky solo LP "Lovesongs For Underdogs". A low-key and not-so dynamic performance (Dave called it, "mellow". Fair enough), which mainly suited the mood of the jagged material on show, and only took flight for singles "Pretty Deep" (introduced by Tanya as being written for a friend who bonded with her over the fact they both kept seeing dead bodies everywhere!) and old Belly favourite "Dusted". However, a still worthwhile set, with plenty of bittersweet musical moments from Tanya's bitter candyfloss psyche to keep me satisfied!

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