“…Feel good but I feel away / walking down the street, lost my way…”
Perhaps down the end of the dusty track to this rendezvous we shall regain our bearings?
“…Got my fingers in my ears“…but no chance of that.
Cataclysmically thunderous, brutal and uncompromising though this evening is, there’s no way I’m shoving anything in me lugs; completely mesmerising and I’ve no intention of missing a jot; this is very, very special.
Given that the last gig but one I saw here was the fairly legendary Fuck Buttons appearance in 2013 (I could not hear for a full five days after that effort) it’s a sign of how ridiculously good Neneh is tonight that, with the first blast of her opener we’re not making a tactical retreat ten feet back.
It’s almost physical in its aggression.
SWG3 has always had a slightly esoteric sound system *cough* and support Rosie Lowe does struggle a touch during an attractively moody set but, come headline time, all is sorted.
Whether that’s due to singer and RocketNumberNine (her band here) having stripped back the material to bare simplicity with few harmonies and melodies I cannot say, but if any of this evening’s crowd are here for a delicate, fulsome, jazz-inflected set of oldies they’re soon surprised.
Bang(!) from the off and a supremely on form Cherry gives us material from, and in the style of Blank Project; the album she put together with husband Cameron McVey, whose family are gathered here along with the rest of us, and RN9 themselves; ably monitored by Four Tet of course.
If you had to label her current modus it would be minimal, pummelling dubstep(ish); but she’s kind of taking things into a micro-niche of her own at the moment.
Anyone expecting hip-swaying nostalgia fostered by hearing Deelite shortly before the main event has a rude rude awakening.
‘Groove is in the Heart’? This groove will rip you apart more like.
Heavy heavy drums, minimal keyboards and half-singing, half-rapping, all-compelling style.
The only concession to the old school is a relatively straight forward ‘Man Child’.
Even the inevitable encore of ‘Buffalo Stance’ is radically reworked; snarling, in your face and sparsely thumping.
Cherry is a dervish: spinning, whirling, commanding all over the stage, all over the shop and looming out all over the rapturous crowd.
What you get from Ms C is utter and infectious commitment.
There’s an attritional quality about the entire affair but, behind that sonic violence, by God does it make you wanna swing those weary January hips.
This is proper, balls to the wall, inspiring stuff; she knows it, her self-effacing band know it and we know it.
In the pub earlier I was saying how much easier it is to write about things when they’re rubbish – and that is 100% true – however what negatives one could say about all this, God only knows.
Although there’s been a recent rare run of form in terms of gigs and tunes and whatnot, Cherry throws all that into sharp relief and is so far ahead of the curve tonight she’s barely even playing the same game let alone in the same league.
Truly spectacular stuff.
“You’re addicted to me“, she sings during a frankly awesome ‘Spit Three Times’; yes, Neneh, yes we are.
Words: Andrew Morrison
Photos: Tim J Gray
