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The Review - MUSIC - GROOVES with CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 20 September 2007

When juicy Gossip grows a bit old

REVIEW: GOSSIP
The Forum

IT sounds fatuous (sorry) to say, but Beth Ditto really is massive.
The Forum is not a small stage, yet as soon as she walks out she fills it with a charisma you feel you could reach out and touch. She is all warmth and smiles – the only monochrome thing here is her dress, which seems permanently like it’s about to fly off but thankfully doesn’t.
It is clear that tonight is all about her, but bandmates Brace Paine and Hannah Blilie know it too, and seem happy to wait in the wings, ably backing up the Ditto show and not putting a note wrong.
The set-up lets her work the crowd and, most importantly, allows her marvellous voice freedom to expand to ever corner of the room. Her impassioned singing feels more Maria Callas than Kurt Cobain, but it’s no bad thing, particularly on album tracks Fire With Fire and Yr Mangled Heart.
Ultimately, however, the show tires. Despite Ditto, Gossip simply don’t have enough tunes to carry off what’s meant to be a lively, jumpy gig. It’s left, predictably enough, to Standing In The Way Of Control to remind the crowd of the heights the band can attain. At this stage it just seems a world better than their other material.
There’s a saying that every band has at least one great song, and Gossip have certainly got that. But it would be a tragic waste of a performer of Beth Ditto’s calibre if that was all, so here’s to hoping they can find the magic of the single again.
ed cumming

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