Joanna Newsom

This was such an unusual and lovely experience. It was the second time I've seen Joanna Newsom, and on the first occasion it was almost too intense. As one of our mates put it, "In the whole world there was Joanna Newsom, me and her harp." Which is good, but not for such a long time. This time though, the Northern Symphonia accompanied the first half of the show, and when they started playing "Emily" my spine was all a-tingle (and tingled throughout the song). The songs are so lullaby-like that they had almost a soporific effect, in the best possible way.

Going to see a "gig" in a venue that feels more like a concert hall is quite strange, but in a way that I like, and the way Joanna Newsom blurs the line between our expectations of a normal "gig" and a classical concert is really interesting: the first half was conducted as if "Ys" was a classical piece, except for JN's "thank you"s following the applause. Then the second half was full of improvisations and deviations from the recorded versions of songs, like the folk tradition.

Songs like "Bridges and Balloons" and "Sprout and the Bean" seemed to lack something, I thought, just because JN's using her voice differently. Perhaps it's just to protect her voice, but she also made reference to being off-colour, or it could be a stylistic choice. Who knows?

Anyway, ignore my little criticisms: it was still transfixing and amazing.