Better than I know myself

My photos of Roísín are not distinguished by their greatness. This is La Murphy opening with Primitive.

For all the extraordinary electronic and pyrotechnic displays which popstars put into live performance these days - screens, amazing staging, clever lighting and so on - sometimes a simple approach provides a refreshing respite. Admittedly, probably not best advised at the O2 or Madison Square Garden, but on a small stage, sometimes magic is created by something as easy as the suspense created by putting on a fabulous outfit and keeping your back to the audience, choosing carefully the moment of your big reveal.

This was a lesson taught to me last night by Roísín Murphy, who was performing the second of her double bill at "Koko," that club up at Mornington Crescent which used to be the Camden Palace. It is, of course, where Madonna had the showcase for Confessions in November '05. As it happens, before this week I had never had a reason go there, which has always slightly irked me. However, the situation is remedied now. Clearly the whole venue has had a massive make-over and more than one lick of paint. The bars and lipstick-red u-shaped leather banquettes are lush. It's a pretty cool place.

Roísín, of course, is also a pretty cool chick. Before her recent triumphant electropop album Overpowered, my only real previous connection with her had been the amazing Moloko songs The time is now and Familiar feelings (a special favourite). However, I've been utterly won over by her attitude and recent visually stunning styling, plus of course her new songs, particularly Let me know. Naturally, she kept that number till the latter part of the show, but in the interim, we were not short of treats.

The man in front of me wore an annoying fashion hat. Perhaps in tribute to Roísín.

Back in the 80s, when one bought a single on 12", and I am not talking about some foxy dance song, but a regular single, the version you got was not the radio cut but a long, perhaps eight or nine minute-long extension of the track. This sort of thing is a relic of the past, vanished into the ether these days. The nearest equivalent perhaps is the difference between an album or single version, or the work of some of the more spectacular (Freemasons, for example) remix troupes around. Last night Roísín  treated every song as if she was singing such a full version. For an artist keen to sing 80% new songs, it's genius. Just perform what amounts to an elaborate extension of the track. If it contains a sensationally thrilling synthesiser explosion two thirds of the way through, so much the better.

I realised what a treat I was in for when she began You know me better. For me, one of the  major musical highlights of the show, it pulsed and bumped, oozed and shimmied. Disco lights bounced off the walls of Koko and people danced with their hands in the air. The video at the base of this post captures the music, but not the visual and iconic transformation of Roísín Murphy into a titanic 00s disco diva in front of my very eyes last night.

Hats are a vastly under-rated garment in popular music these days, something Roísín seems very keen to put right. A series of berets, police-style peaked numbers, white hard-looking directional fashion statements and (in the case of her performance of Movie star) large feathery confections were paraded across the stage as if Ascot were happening in North London last night. If our chanteuse hostess was a gracious lady, amid the crowd the runners and riders were jostling hard for position. Unless one was thrusting in the throng downstairs (which my companion for the evening was not keen to do) finding a vantage point to see and admire the stage was a little difficult. This is where Koko fell a little short. We eventually moved from our first view to somewhere where we weren't being jostled, but that was on the second level.

There was a period in the middle of the show where she ran through one or two songs I didn't know (oddball Moloko numbers? something from that 'difficult' first album?) and Pandora, Scarlet ribbons and Miami, then she came back with Let me know and Overpowered. I confess that the first of these numbers was the fundamental reason I was there. I love the album and everything, but that song is a contender for my favourite of the year. So it is with reluctance that I report that I didn't enjoy her rendition. Performed with the full band (unlike some of the earlier total electronica numbers) it seemed shoe-horned into a full 'proper instrument' arrangement, plus had been combined with a new melody and lyric (from something else? I wasn't sure) and it seemed to lack the sparkle of the studio version. I was left glum. But not for long. For Overpowered was performed with the most sensational zing (making up for what the previous lacked) and the insane, exaggerated dancing which characterised the video. To hear the pulsing, bouncy, unapologetic snyths stabbing through that venue gave me a frisson of unexpected guilt and delight. And all the cool kids in their fashion cardigans and pointy shoes were loving it.

In many ways, witnessing that was an ex-teenage pop music-lover's last great revenge. Electropop undimmed continues long after Madonna's departure from those portals. What glee. She was one Fun Maid Roísín. Sorry.

This, by the way, is what our heroine really looks like. Not my photo! Thank you, XO.

Roísín Murphy You know me better

Comments

[xolondon]

She's like a 60's icon. I adore her. ADORE.

[J'ason D'luv]

Tricklet, this place is getting quite diva-tastic lately! Now that I've had a full week to let Kylie have her way with my ears, I'm gonna finally read your write-up down below. From what I've heard, you're her bitch, so this better be good....

[Phil]

Once again I missed out on the mad ticket rush. Sold before I had a chance to key in 'roisin tickets koko'. But your review has gone some way to make me feel better (or worse).

And I too love Koko as a venue. The sound is fantastic, it does indeed look lush and it's always EASY to get a drink.

[TRICKY]

xo: She is a marvel. Under-appreciated, perhaps by the masses. Maybe she will "do an Amy" - in the popularity rather than the drug taking and personal spiral sense.

D'luv: This place is diva central - did you check the concerts I am going to in '08 yet? I am praying for Dionne Warwick and Tina Turner and then there will be no more (living) ones. I am Kylie's bitch, it's official. The review is not really a review. It's devoid of critique, but I do think it's a good album.

Phil: for shame, I only got to see Roísín on the back of someone else who had made the effort, so I will not claim credit. Going to see her was a very last-minute thing, but I would definitely go again. She's fantastic and *hungry* - if Amy's going to piss away her stardom, Roísín deserves it more at this point.