Emotive and Eloquent Performance
On hearing the menacing intro and piercing slide guitar which characterise album-opener, and first tune of the evening, 'Never Know' the crowd is instantly entranced by Colt's eloquent and emotive performance. Before long the audience are not only hanging on singer Andrea's every damask-tinted word, but also fixated by her every movement.
The brash percussion of 'I Abort' echoes through the room and the vicious, chorus cuts through the air like a vitriolic release of looming anger. The performance is mesmeric and deeply personal; giving the impression that the audience are both intimately involved but also intruders in Andrea's overwhelming floods of passion. She is clearly as poignant and subtle an actress as a songstress, as demonstrated in the spine tingling 'I Talk To God' which bristles with dark menace in the guitarwork and is only enhanced by live flourishes, such as the bitterness with which Andrea spits out the lyrics, "I'm not afraid of Jesus Christ, I'm not a slave to the cross that I wear" with delicately outstretched arms. Beautiful crystalline lullaby 'Fading Softly' adds a breath of calm to the evening but discordant guitar licks break this sweet trance.
The impassioned reverberations of 'Death and Sequins' lead out and bring this fantastic set to an end. Goldfrapp aimed to ride on a white horse, but Colt harness all the elegance and power of a sleek stallion in their tender and raw performance, which is both a pleasure to watch, but also evokes pain and takes you on an amazing emotional ride. By the end of the set Andrea looks physically exhausted and has released enough shrill screams to destroy her throat, but it was certainly worth it as the audience appear fascinated up until the very end.