WORTH A LOOK?: ****
Family Stereo is the ‘folkish rockery’ project of London-based songwriter Blake Watt who we 1st encountered at an east London gig last year accompanying his parents.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN? Sunday 6 April, runs through 7 April 2025 Update: New gigs at this venue in June Details
This is the 200-capacity east London venue where we saw our 1st post-pandemic gig and our best show of 2024 but we never dared dream we’d see the 1st concert in a quarter of a century by 1 of our favourite bands here.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
Duo Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt’s 1st new music in 24 years is very reminiscent of the dark electronic dance music with which they had their biggest hits in the 90s.
Does anyone have a better taste in female duet partners? We saw Grant three times last year: Glastonbury, Royal Festival Hall and duetting with Alison Goldfrapp at the Albert Hall. Sinead O’Connor appeared on last proper album Pale Green Ghosts and here former Everything But The Girl star Thorn is duetting (see YouTube clip above) on gorgeous lines like: ‘Francis Bacon, the Dolomites, ballet dancers with or without tights, Central Park on an autumn day, always stunning and never cliche.’ And if that sounds too Vogue Madonna, the chorus reverts to type (‘All these things, they’re just Disappointing …’) until the O’Connor-esque payoff (‘… compared to you.’) Musically, it’s a return to the jauntier elements of breakthrough Queen of Denmark album.
