Earlier this evening I went to a gig by the Tindersticks at York Barbican. It was probably the most avant-garde show I have ever been to and the quote from John Lennon that kept popping into my head was ‘avant-garde is French for bullshit’. Now in many cases that may well be true, but regarding the Tindersticks it clearly isn’t. The show was based around the soundtracks that the band have recorded for Claire Denis, a French filmmaker. They played live to excerpts of Denis’ movies, which were somewhat weird and provocative. The nearest comparison I have is the short film that was effectively David Bowie’s support on the 1976 ‘Thin White Duke’ tour; ‘Un Chien Andalou’
The show was an 18+ event given the sex and violence in the films. The music really does work with the film though, in a way I wouldn’t have imagined. Perhaps the strangest clip for me was of a couple seemingly having wild sex which then turned into the woman eating the guys face. I mean biting of bits of flesh, it wasn’t a show for the faint hearted or easily offended. But back to the band; instrumentally they were truly amazing. Eight really gifted musicians who are pretty tight together. It was a completely instrumental set as unfortunately lead singer Stuart Staples had laryngitis.
Overall I enjoyed the show, but it isn’t the sort of gig I would normally go to. The film with live soundtrack was a very brave and different thing to do and mostly it worked well but on occasions it was a little soporific. I also felt that the auditorium being less than half full had more to do with the competence of the venue rather than the appeal of the band. I doubt that I will go and see a similar show again, but I will download some of the soundtracks I think. If anyone reading this was at the show tonight or any of the others on the tour I would love to know what you thought of it. And finally I should point out that none of the pictures or video included in this post are actually from tonights show.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 
I was there. Well, you’ve kind of summed it up. I’m almost glad it was Monday night, because straight away being told there were no vocals was quite a disappointment.
Being as it was the beginning of the week, I wasn’t really expecting much. and that’s what I got. But that isn’t to say I wish I hadn’t gone. It left it’s mark on me (and clearly the woman who was almost carried out, and some others who left soon after)
It was at that point, I felt better about the fact I had my hands over my eyes in various scenes. I remember after 45 minutes I began to curl up in my seat, getting more uncomfortable at what might be coming next, yet I was still seeing it through
It was disappointing not to hearing songs from their back catologue, but that’s possibly my own fault for not researching the project
The only way to describe various points of graphicness, or conveying the images in review format, is to just say “you had to be there”. And if you were, I still not sure that would explain it
Despite all that, and being distracted by multimedia, the music was very powerful, and very good. I think looking back I could have enjoyed it all a lot more without the movie shorts
LikeLike
Thanks for the comment. I definitely agree the no vocals bit was the most disappointimg for me.
Overall I am definitely glad I went as well. I have never been scared or disturbed by anything really, but I suspect that last night may have been borderline in that respect.
I will be downloading some of their soundtrack music this weekend but I think it’s unlikely that I will be looking to buy the movies!
I did notice quite a few people leaving, but I never spotted anyone being almost carried out. There was a woman in the queue at the box office ticket collection point in front of me when I arrived. She was there with her teenage daughter, she was definitely under 18 and I may be doing her an injustice by saying she was 14 or 15. Anyway her Mum complained at the prospect of being turned away because she’d driven all the way from Leeds. So after consultation with the pair of them the Barbican staff agreed to let them both in. I wonder if they were among those who left 🙂
LikeLike
I found it very disturbing in parts and was disappointed it was intrumental and think it should have been postponed!
LikeLike
Sharon thanks for the comment. I agree that for many it may have been quite disturbing. I wasn’t disturbed personally, but maybe that says more about me! The fact that there were no vocals was by far my biggest disappointment of the evening though. I’m not sure that I agree with you that it should have been postponed. Is that because of the disturbing nature, the lack of vocals or both?
LikeLike
There was a very young girl on my row. I think that made me conscious about manning up and watching it.
LikeLike
What’s wrong with you both?! It was, despite Stuart being unable to sing, a totally intense evening. Their haunting music filled the auditorium (which was lucky, as there were sadly so many empty seats), and had me absolutely captivated, and I actually filled up a couple of times. What did you expect when you went to the show? If you had been worried about the potentially disturbing content of Claire Denis’s films, you should have researched them a bit first! And let’s face it, Tindersticks’ music is not exactly cheesy pop…. An amazing, powerful, one-off evening for me.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comment.
I agree that it was an intense evening, but I was still disappointed that Stuart was unable to sing. Personally I feel that the management and marketing at the Barbican is pretty poor, so that and the fact it was a Monday night left the auditorium with so many empty seats.
As I said before I loved the music and will be downloading some of the band’s Denis soundtrack work at the weekend. As for researching Claire Denis’ films before the show, I did a little, but perhaps I should have done more. I know all we saw were excerpts from the movies, but whilst they struck me as powerful, I still had a sense of ‘art for arts sake’. It reminded me of when I made it my mission to read all the Booker shortlisted books on a couple of occasions. In my opinion they were written to win a prize, not as a good read.
However I don’t believe my opinion detracts from my opinion of the music which I thought was superb and a million miles from cheesy pop. But it is all down to personal opinion at the end of the day isn’t it. If it moves you, then let it, if it doesn’t then move on!
LikeLike