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. . .And another solid performance turned in by everyone's favorite blues-punk trio, the Gossip.
Well, that about sums it up. I mean, what do you want me to say? Basically: Beth Ditto dazzled with dynamite vocals, as usual. Bassist and guitarist Brace Paine plowed us down with gigantic riffs, as usual. Drummer Hannah Blilie made a mountain of a molehill, working wonders with an unusually spare drumset. As usual.
The Gossip have a reputation for being one of the best live bands around, and, well, that's a hard reputation to live up to. Even more so when the lead singer of the group on before yours (in this case, Erase Errata's Jenny Hoyston), says by way of introduction something like "Get ready for the Gossip to get up here and change your life again."
While the Gossip show at the First Unitarian Church was life-affirming, it was not terribly life changing. When I saw the group four years ago at the Black Cat in D.C., where they played to a crowd of, say, 30 or so and pushed every single one of us to a state of riotous abandon, well yeah, that was life changing.
But these days, it's as though Beth Ditto has nothing to prove. And I guess that's true: She doesn't. The band's fanbase has grown exponentially in the last five years, thanks mainly to their previously mentioned reputation for changing lives. It's also true that, this time around, the band was as on as ever. Ditto's vocals were firecracker, and the band's new turn to a dancier, poppier sound should only spell further riot. But, as always happens when your favorite band grows, tries new things, and perfects the old, the overall package has ditched the rawness and in many cases the excitement, in favor of a bigger and more polished sound. It's not bad; just different.
When I saw Ms. Ditto perform those several years ago, she had the energy of James Brown. This time around, she brought it, she motherfucking brought it, but the band took so many breaks between songs that the crowd's energy was alternately up and down. It was easy to wilt every time the energy died, especially since the Gossip's songs are, as a rule, short. So it'd be like, two-minute rockout, two-minute breather, four-minute blues tune, three-minute break, three-minute rockout. Ditto bridged the songs with chirpy banter -- her ability to spout cute one-liners nonstop is unrivaled. Meanwhile, Paine and Blilie used the between-song breaks to their advantage, catching us by surprise each time they got the machine going again.
The setlist showcased Ditto's exceptional vocal talents. She's a diva in vocal range and style, if not in character. We knew she could wail, but it was the ease with which she wailed and softened and enunciated and textured her voice during this show -- all while dancing -- that made each individual vocal performance so stunning. And yet, some of the fire in her eyes was lost. The image of Ditto bounding from one end of the stage to the other and yelling until we do her bidding and dance, bitches -- that image has been replaced by a noticeably calmer performer, one less concerned with audience participation. It's logical: Whereas she used to win people over with her stage antics, she now uses her voice.
That's not to say that the Gossip didn't incite people to get down. Naturally "Standing in the Way of Control" -- the title track and first single off their new album -- got a huge response. It was about twice as long as most of the other songs, and the length (and its intensity) meant people could get into it with less inhibition. The band's cover of Aaliyah's "Are U That Somebody" deserves mention as well, not because it was a novelty cover, but because Ditto performed it as a nod to her R&B roots. Coming from a band that describes itself as punk, this cover was a way of paying homage to another strong influence. Although Erase Errata's Jenny Hoyston, who was brought on stage to rap/sing Timbaland's lines and other backup vocals, couldn't manage a straight face (and neither could much of the crowd), Ditto treated the song with respect, giving its original artists their due.
The end of the review has come and I don't know that I've supported my original thesis that this show was good but not that good. All evidence, once written down, points to its having been, indeed, that good. And yet, I maintain that there was something missing. Perhaps it's merely the element of surprise, that feeling of discovering something new and exciting that I hadn't been expecting that first time. But what can you do: With expectation comes disappointment. And it's a bit much to expect unexpected excitement from the same band twice.
— 6 October 2006
