Sunday 19th June 2022
Glasgow Hydro
The girls are back in to-oownn – have they ever been away. Alanis Morissette & Beth Orton have hit the road together on a European arena tour, where Glasgow & its epic Hydro & all their Scottish fans had the privilge & pleasure of hearing them perform.
In her supporting role Beth was simply beautiful, turing with the re-release of her second and most acclaimed album, Central Reservation. Starting off with Stolen Car, she played eight more songs including my favorite Concrete Sky, & ending on Stars All Seem to Weep. Over her fundamentally folk-rock vibes, bolster’d by a double bass, she offers an ethereal voice, subdued & sublime yet so, so soft & good. The way she blends her word in communicating her messages, while letting the sounds sit on her siren melodies is Beth’s forte – an uberpoetess of the sonics of sour souls. As song-bysong she surf’d her set, I found myself being drawn deeper & deeper inside her art, her mind, & her music. She is a consummate enchantress & I cannot wait until 23rd September when Partisan Records will be releasing her new LP, including “Weather Alive.”
After Beth’s short but searing set came the queen of break-ups, herself, Alanis Morissette, who delivered her Jagged Little Pills with so much polish & affection it is if they had been written only yesterday. Around me women in tears, hearing the voice which had comforted them thro their own break-ups.
Meanwhile I was having a right old dance & just sense of womanhood in the room thro the whole not left me cleansed for the happy walk home.
Damian Beeson Bullen
Mumble Music 