Throwing Muses continued their second leg of the UK and European tour in support of their album Moonlight Concessions with a sold-out bank holiday show at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge to an appreciative audience where they defied the expectations of a band of their vintage.
Nostalgia for the late 1980s and 1990s is a big thing these days. For those looking for that at a Throwing Muses show, they're looking in the wrong place. Despite possessing a back catalogue that many would envy, Kristin Hersh steadfastly refuses to rest on those laurels during a mammoth twenty-five song set. Seventeen of the songs come from their last three albums - eight from this year's excellent Moonlight Concessions and the others from Purgatory / Paradise and Sun Racket. On top of that, save for the encore of Shark and Bright Yellow Gun, the choices from the 1980s / 1990s albums aren't the most obvious. Whilst for many artists this approach would cause uproar amongst the fanbase, there's a connection between Kristin Hersh / Throwing Muses and the audience that means they're on the same page with this approach, either listening attentively or, in the case of a few at the front, losing themselves in the music.
The line-up of Throwing Muses has been a fluid one since Kristin resurrected them and tonight features son Dylan on bass, partner Fred Abong on drums and Pete on cello. The newer songs don't possess the frenetic energy of much of their very early work, evidenced as when Kristin jokes that the only way they can play Soap And Water, the oldest song they play tonight, is to play it as fast as they can, but that doesn't detract at all from the impact, even on the older songs like Bea, Him Dancing and Counting Backwards.
There's moments of levity too such as when Fred loses a stick and when he fades out his own drumming at the end of Limbo and Kristin comments his cowbell "almost sounds as good as a real cow", they have to restart Colder and during the band intros, but with twenty-five songs across eighty-five minutes there's little time for idle chat with the focus very much on the music. There's little break between songs, they come thick and fast, none of the constant tuning that often breaks up a set and the intensity of the music and performance is matched by the audience's attentiveness and focus.
Throwing Muses played Theremini, Sunray Venus, Dark Blue, Bea, Bywater, Slippershell, Colder, Static, Him Dancing, Drugstore Drastic, Lazy Eye, Summer Of Love, Kay Catherine, Libretto, Opiates, Soap And Water, South Coast, Albatross, Limbo, Counting Backwards, Bo Diddley Bridge, Sally's Beauty, Moonlight Concessions, Shark and Bright Yellow Gun
Throwing Muses' website can be found here. They are on Twitter. Kristin Hersh's website can be found here. She is on Facebook and Twitter.
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