Beth Orton Gig Review

We went to see the glorious Beth Orton at the Royal Albert Hall the week before last: As Beth may well end up reading this, I must let her know that she was excellent.

For someone with so much talent, it amazes me how nervous she is on stage. We saw her a few years back at Shepherds Bush Empire, and between the magnificent music, she appeared to find it difficult to engage with her audience -- she was timid and like a little lost lamb in the lions den.

She was still nervous at the RBH for the first couple of tracks, but soon got into it, putting on a great show and managing to generate an intimate atmosphere (no mean feat considering the vastness of the hall's globe).

We were treated to the usual 9:00pm to 10:30pm main show, with Beth missing out a few crowd favourites so that she could come on for the standard first encore and play them.

Some foolish people left just before the end of this first encore, so missed the best section of the night: the second encore.

Whether it was because it was the last night of the Daydreamer tour, or because it was the Royal Albert Hall, Beth came on for a second, acoustic encore, which thrilled the audience and was worth the admission price on its own. Beautifully sung.

Add in our free parking, easy drive in and out of the city, and smashing dinner at Wagamama's in Kensington, and we had a great night out.

Nobby's recommendation: If you don't own a Beth Orton CD, you can get hold of both of her first albums for less than a crisp five pound note. You have no excuse not to treat yourself to some sublime tunes from the best female singer-songwriter in the UK.


Norwich

Beth is from Norwich. Sara used to live there during her Anglia TV days.

Dean and Nigel live there too. They were in the Times magazine last Saturday. Their brand of comedy consists of dressing up in props and impersonating ordinary people in the street. They call it "blending".

I love that sort of thing. Check out their website. The later galleries are the best -- the early ones are a bit crap.

Apparently Norwich offers them a wealth of blending opportunities, as the town (according to Dean and Nigel) is full of people with no dress sense.

That would account for Sara's new poncho then...