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As posted by "MoanerLisa" (lynnbritt@aol.com) on November 03, 1999:
Kristin Hersh @ 9:30 Club, Washington D.C. Opening for Brendan Perry 1-November-1999
Ah, the burden of devoted fans. It must be difficult for KH to constantly live up to the high expectations of her devotees, though she usually does. With that in mind I admit that along with being completely overwhelmed by her,
I was a little disappointed in the DC show. Perhaps she was tired. Perhaps she had read the less than favorable Sky Motel review which appeared in Monday’s Washington Post
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/weekend/feed/a58215-1999oct29.htm) but I must say Ms Hersh did not seem to me at all happy to be where she was Monday night. It made me feel guilty for making her be there. The set was very short, just under 45 minutes. I expected this but I have to admit that I’ve been reading the postings of set lists from previous shows and was sad not to hear
Garoux des Larmes, Cathedral Heat and most especially Lost Flamingoes which seems to completely capture everyone who hears it. I understand that she’s opening a show not headlining and I understand as well that KH could play for 3 hours and I’d still want more, but damn it, I’ve never heard her play those songs and I’m a selfish bitch. In another selfish note, it took all my courage to ask for a song. I was the only one who had a request (maybe the only one with the nerve to ask for a song) and I asked for
Sinkhole very politely ( I said “please”) and man did I feel like an idiot. First she pretended she’d never heard of it, then she pretended not to know it, then she offered to play it and let me sing it (I said “OK” and she ignored me. I don’t blame her for this. I expect that I would have been the only one to have enjoyed that.) Then she said that it was too high to sing like everything else she had written when she was 17 and then played
Soap and Water. I think I would have preferred her to say she wasn’t doing any requests and leave it at that.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. She makes me, in some ways, feel like Niles Archer in
The Age of Innocence. Every time we’re apart, I forget her. Every time I see her, I fall in love with her (you know what I mean) all over again. I’m interested to know if anyone else has the same experience. It’s strange how cute and, dare I say it, precious…even adorable she looks in all of her PR photos. Tiny sweet girl, great big eyes, huge grin without a bit of grimace in it. And that’s how I come to think of her in the year or two year intervals between shows. Then I see her and am pulled right out of that misconception. Dense, intense and immense is our Kristin. She may be tiny and cute in pictures but on stage she looks huge and oh so impressive. Her neck strains, her head snakes around hypnotically and that wonderful fixed stare of hers holds us all entranced. She would be an awesome sight even without the incredible words hurling out of her
mouth; the words that seem to come from the part of my brain that has no direct connection to my mouth. Thank God someone has said them so that I can know them consciously myself. Sometimes I think I may have sung them more than she has. Hubris hubris hubris!
It sounds stupid, but I swear to God I got lightheaded when she sang Delicate
Cutters.
That’s all I’m gonna write for now. It sounds pretentious and asinine in the rereading but I wanted to get it off my chest so I’m posting it anyway. I’ll only add that even considering my small disappointment with the show, I still wish I had the balls to quit my job and Grateful Dead after her around the world.
Judge me if you will, Brothers and Sisters.
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