GIG Portishead @ Hammersmith Apollo 10 April 2008
Posted by Adrian | Posted in london , portishead | Posted on 20:45
Portishead at the Hammersmith Apollo, London, 10 April 2008.
Jo, D, Ishbel, Simon and me headed on down to Hammersmith for a gig we'd been waiting for nearly ten years to arrive. Portishead. You remember them. Anguish stretched taut over a jazzy guitar led threepiece, with a DJ thrown in. Hadn't done a new album in nearly ten years. For this gig, the new album, "Third", hadn't even been released. So many of the audience had little or no knowledge of the new tracks.
Hopes were high for a fantastic performance, and when the band came out, they seemed a bit rusty and a little uncomfortable. Sure enough, two songs in they went off stage for a technical mishap with one of the sequencers. They were off for about 5 minutes while roadies panicked on stage.
Then they came back and delivered a set that wavered from beloved memories stripped back to their bare essentials, through to the pervasively dark, stacatto sound of the new material. A stunning visual performance added to the mix, with a gorgeous live camera montage on the backdrops.
The singer Beth Gibbons has become a little more confident since 1998. But still we often found her with her back to the crowd, preferring to sway in time with the band. When singing she stands statuesque, transfixed in the lighting effects.
It was a very very very good gig. But it didn't hit the heights of Wellington on the "Portishead" album tour. Tonight, in London ten years on, the band lacked the lush contribution from a dedicated DJ. The new songs seemed harsh, jarring even. The overall performance was excellent, don't get me wrong, but Portishead sounded, well, less than we remembered them.
A wicked gig on balance, and we're dishing out the 5 out of 5. It wasn't perfect but it was undeniably strong.
Here are some of the best gig photos I've ever done. See all 27 photos from this gig.
Setlist:
Silence
Hunter
Mysterons
The Rip
Glory Box
Numb
Magic Doors
Wandering Star
Machine Gun
Over
Sour Times
Nylon Smile
Cowboys
==encore==
Threads
Roads
We Carry On