Having developed a very
refined psychedelic sound on record, Broadcast are equally
at ease in the live environment. Armed with an additional
keyboard player and a rather heavy handed drummer, vocalist
Trish Keenan and James Cargill compensate the regular
haemorrhage of band members that has affected them over
the years by hitting hard. The press recently went mad
over their third and most intimate record, Tender
Buttons. Yet, transferred onto the stage, these
songs become ardent vignettes caught up between the
fuzz of an old analogue synthesizer and the thumping
drum sequences.
Keenan is, as usual, economical with her movements on
stage, at times randomly strumming a guitar and adding
a layer of noise, at others folded over a keyboard,
she is the most unlikely stage diva, yet she grabs the
attention of the audience with her impeccable deadpan,
yet strangely gossamer voice and never lets go. Interestingly,
letting go is, according to Keenan, one of the central
themes to the band’s latest opus. Here, on stage,
facing the crowd, she appears at once frail and tough,
timidly announcing that tonight is her birthday, and
only moments later forcing her way through gritty electronics,
abrrassive electric guitars and overwhelming drums.
Kicking off with high-octane versions of Pendulum
and the recent single America’s Boy,
Broadcast thereon focus almost entirely on songs from
Tender Buttons. Dragged out of the bleak atmospheric
magma of the album and thrown into the harsh reality
of metal in fusion, songs such as Tender Buttons,
Subject To The Ladder, Corporeal or
the touching Goodbye Girls all reflect new
tones and gain extra relief, while America’s
Boy, Michael A Grammar or Black Cat,
three clear crowd favourites, become razor-sharp anthems,
while a few incendiary instrumentals are served, only
it appears, to allow for Keenan to be eclipsed for a
moment by the rest of the band. Concluding the short
encore, Keenan and co perform the magnificent 60/40,
a track described by the singer as their best yet. It
is just to be hoped that it soon gets captured on record.
If Tender Buttons was at once gritty, raw and delicate,
transferred to the stage, the songs become acutely incisive
and tough. Broadcast take on a totally new dimension
live. If they have had to adapt to operate as a duo
once more, Keenan and Cargill show no signs of weakness
this evening. Broadcast version 2005 are as strong and
impressive as ever. |
