A blog about Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series, our other books about music, and the world of sound in general.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Isobel & Eugene

Last night we went to see Isobel Campbell play, at Southpaw in Brooklyn. After a charming and meta-derivative support set from The Essex Green, Isobel put on a surprisingly great show. For those of us who were used to seeing her sulk her way through old B&S concerts (and even her own Gentle Waves gigs), this was something of a revelation. She's still hardly the most chatty performer, and still turns her back on the audience a little too often, but last night she had real presence: her voice was much stronger, it was a beautifully paced set (aside from a brief lull in the middle), she was genuinely enjoying herself, and her band was excellent. Eugene Kelly's vocals and guitars were great, and the final song - a cover of his Vaselines' classic "Son of a Gun" - was wonderful.




Two things:

1. I never thought I'd see Isobel dancing while twirling a (huge) bra around her head.

2. She looks fabulous. But, as the lovely Emma pointed out, "She's got the elbows of an obese woman!" Is this something to do with years of cello-playing?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's sort of a nit-picky thing to say about someone, isn't it? I think her elbows look perfectly fine.

David said...

I don't know - I think it's humanising (and fun!) to find tiny flaws in otherwise breathtakingly beautiful people.