Yes! We made it to the BPB gig after all last night at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
We really didn't deserve our good luck as Matt and I left the house very late. But we rolled up, bought a couple of tickets off a tout cheaper than the cover price, and ended up with a great view of the stage -
- just before Billy came on! Oh it was a treat. He slouched on in his t-shirt, shortish jeans and espadrilles, and promptly got into the alt-voguing for which he's famous. Three songs in he covered the song I blogged about a couple of posts ago, 'Troublesome Houses'. Superb. I adore his squatting and bouncing mannerisms. Everyone, put your hands on your hip and stick your leg out. Now cross your legs over and take a long step to the left, down the floor. Then flick your wrist and scrunch your shoulders. It's so great to see him let go physically as he gets into the sound of his voice and the delivery of the music.
The dynamics, the harmonies, the song lines; it added up to a masterclass on how to put the emotion and the melody at the heart of the production. Matt hadn't seen BPB at all before and he said it was the best he'd seen of this kind of work. As we're intending to work on something not a million miles away as a duo, this was exactly what we needed to see. Sometimes life works out.
And me, I was so thrilled, I couldn't help smiling all night. He's an inspiration.
I downloaded a couple of BPB songs a few years ago but they must have been bad recordings or his worst material or something because they didn't sound too strong, but he was recommended so I'm sure there is some good stuff there which maybe needs more time and attention than I have so far paid. Note to myself - attention must be paid!
ReplyDelete'Troublesome Houses' is good - what is ace is the way he steers away from conventional verse bridge chorus. He does use repetition and hooks, but often with variation.
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