I have nothing to offer but confusion

 An old favourite at a new venue.

I first became aware of Throwing Muses way back in '87 and between '91 and '96 they released four great albums - The Real Ramona, Red Heaven, University and Limbo, all of which I still check out from time to time. After that, their lead singer Kristin Hersh embarked on a solo career but they've still found time to release an album every five years or so, supported by some gigs over here which I've generally made an effort to catch. And often, a most unusual thing happens at these gigs...


...I have a friend to talk to! We never do anything mad like book the tickets together or anything, but Mr Billing has made a lot more of an effort to attend these things over the years than I (he reckons he's seen either them or her live about thirty times - this was only my fifth visit) and so, if I manage to remember to get a ticket, there's a strong chance he'll be there. It's fair to say we don't see a lot of each other given we've only met up once since the last time we were last both at a Muses gig in '14, but last night we were super-organised and even met up beforehand for a beer (which was curiously priced - £7.73) in The Worlds End in Camden, which is a stone's throw away from Electric Ballroom, which is a venue I've not previously visited. Conversation turned to ex-Accenture colleagues and we both mentioned we'd not heard from Thommo (who saw the Muses with Paul in '94 when they were based in Minneapolis) in ages - more on this later...


Of course, one beer turned into three, so I'm afraid we arrived rather late for the support act, Lande Hekt but we caught the end of her set which sounded pretty decent 80s/90s guitar indie and was played to a pretty full venue - I promise to make an effort to check her stuff out at some point. And so, after another trip to the bar (where the beer was very curiously priced, being cheaper than in the pub) we settled in towards the back of the crowd (but still with a decent view) for the arrival of the band.


Throwing Muses have been through several iterations over the years, so you never know quite what you're going to get but last night they had Kristin (guitar and vocal), Kristin's fiancé (bass), Kristin's son (drums) and someone who I don't think is related to Kristin but who knows? (cello). What indie band is complete without a cello these days, after all?!?


And they made a very decent sound indeed - the majority of the tracks were from the later albums, which I don't know as well, so I didn't recognise them but still enjoyed them and there was also a decent enough smattering of earlier stuff, with "Him Dancing", "Counting Backwards" and (one of my favourite tracks ever) "Bright Yellow Gun" being particular favourites with me. The cello (which certainly wasn't part of their early album line-up) actually worked really well on the old tracks - they'd obviously put some effort into reworking things. What they hadn't put any effort into was banter because Kristin was having a quiet night - it must have been about an hour before she actually said anything!


The venue has to take some of the credit for the sound - it's fair to say it's not the most aesthetically pleasing, basically being a big black box (although upstairs looked a bit more interesting with a long side balcony) but sonically it worked well. Which is a good job, because I'm back there in October to see Belly, who are lead by Tanya Donelly, who is also Kristin Hersh's step-sister and a founding member of Throwing Muses! And guess who else has booked tickets to see them that night? We're even going to be graced with the presence of Mrs Billing on that night...


One downside of not being Billy-no-mates at a gig was that I got told off for talking - I obviously never got the memo that it wasn't allowed these days. I must have been talking (about some aspect of the gig) for, oooh, 20 or 30 seconds when I got a tap on the shoulder from someone several people away with a finger-on-lips gesture - I felt like I was back at school (and obviously shut up like I was told to!).


One of the things that I might have been talking about was a WhatsApp message I got during the gig from someone I'd not heard from in ages - yup, completely coincidentally, it was Thommo. And what vital event had resulted in this communication? Well, I'd got the lovely Mrs Reed some last-minute tickets to see Kylie and he was wondering, you know, whether there was any chance...


All of which lead me down an interesting side-path - who's younger, Kylie or Kirstin? My first thought was "it's obviously Kylie!", swiftly followed by "it's probably Kylie, isn't it?". And it is, but it's closer than you'd think - Kylie is a youthful 57 today (Happy Birthday, Kylie!) whereas Kirstin is a positively aged 58. And both of them are obviously way older than me...


All in all, it was a great night, both socially and musically - it's not the most beautiful of venues, but it does what it needs to and Throwing Muses took full advantage of it!






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