EIF 2023 Alison Goldfrapp Playhouse Theatre 25th Review
Alison Goldfrapp was at the Playhouse Edinburgh tonight, the penultimate show in her current tour which was also part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, and as to be expected the venue was full with fans of her music.
It seems at times difficult to believe that I first heard Alison’s voice on the first Goldfrapp studio album (Felt Mountain) over 20 years ago, but since then that iconic techno/synth-pop sound has been behind dance floor hit after hit.
Tonight was a little bit different, however, as Alison Goldfrapp has in May this year released her first solo album “The Love Invention”. This tour is obviously to promote this album, and new songs from it of course featured heavily in this set-list. There were of course some classics from the back catalogue too.
Taking to the stage in a very 1980s over the top shoulder-pad dress, Alison Goldfrapp was very much the good humoured hostess of her very own retro discotheque/nightclub this evening, chatting with the audience between songs and at one point stepping down from the stage to talk to and greet people in the front rows of the theatre, and the audience were loving every minute of this unscripted interaction with her.
Music-wise, this at first glance appeared to be a very simple set up with Alison Goldfrapp on vocals (often with added effects) and Evelyn May on keyboards with Seb Sternberg behind a large arrangement of drums. Together Evelyn and Seb provided a non-stop soundscape to all songs this evening with that synth-pop beat reverberating throughout the large auditorium of the Playhouse theatre. Dancers Moses Ward, Belen Leroux and Elisabeth Mulenga also added their own distinctive interpretations of the music.
Alison Goldfrapp was bringing a lot of stage equipment to this show though as banks of lights (which often made her a silhouette figure on stage), a large screen at the back of the set, and a lot of unseen sound tech made this show very much a performance event. Oddly though, from where I was sitting it took a little while for this sound to get evenly balanced and Seb’s drums not to be overpowering Alison’s vocals.
From the new album, the new single, “So Hard So Hot”, and songs like “In Electric Blue”, and “Love Invention” were obvious crowd pleasers, but as you would expect, some of the biggest responses of the night were to songs well-known to this crowd, including – “Rocket”, “Ride A White Horse” and perhaps the biggest response of the evening “Strict Machine”.
This was a set that had no interval and ran for around 100 plus minutes of non-stop music and it was obvious that Alison Goldfrapp was perfectly in her comfort zone here in charge of every moment of this carefully planned show, and this audience were loving every minute and every beat of her music.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
It seems at times difficult to believe that I first heard Alison’s voice on the first Goldfrapp studio album (Felt Mountain) over 20 years ago, but since then that iconic techno/synth-pop sound has been behind dance floor hit after hit.
Tonight was a little bit different, however, as Alison Goldfrapp has in May this year released her first solo album “The Love Invention”. This tour is obviously to promote this album, and new songs from it of course featured heavily in this set-list. There were of course some classics from the back catalogue too.
Taking to the stage in a very 1980s over the top shoulder-pad dress, Alison Goldfrapp was very much the good humoured hostess of her very own retro discotheque/nightclub this evening, chatting with the audience between songs and at one point stepping down from the stage to talk to and greet people in the front rows of the theatre, and the audience were loving every minute of this unscripted interaction with her.
Music-wise, this at first glance appeared to be a very simple set up with Alison Goldfrapp on vocals (often with added effects) and Evelyn May on keyboards with Seb Sternberg behind a large arrangement of drums. Together Evelyn and Seb provided a non-stop soundscape to all songs this evening with that synth-pop beat reverberating throughout the large auditorium of the Playhouse theatre. Dancers Moses Ward, Belen Leroux and Elisabeth Mulenga also added their own distinctive interpretations of the music.
Alison Goldfrapp was bringing a lot of stage equipment to this show though as banks of lights (which often made her a silhouette figure on stage), a large screen at the back of the set, and a lot of unseen sound tech made this show very much a performance event. Oddly though, from where I was sitting it took a little while for this sound to get evenly balanced and Seb’s drums not to be overpowering Alison’s vocals.
From the new album, the new single, “So Hard So Hot”, and songs like “In Electric Blue”, and “Love Invention” were obvious crowd pleasers, but as you would expect, some of the biggest responses of the night were to songs well-known to this crowd, including – “Rocket”, “Ride A White Horse” and perhaps the biggest response of the evening “Strict Machine”.
This was a set that had no interval and ran for around 100 plus minutes of non-stop music and it was obvious that Alison Goldfrapp was perfectly in her comfort zone here in charge of every moment of this carefully planned show, and this audience were loving every minute and every beat of her music.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com