Hot-footing it from an afternoon performance at Latitude, Joanna Newsom appeared a little flustered on arriving onstage, though it couldn’t keep her warm on a sharp night, especially in the strapless evening gown she’d gone for.

From the get-go, she had the audience in rapt silence, and despite the general image of Newsom as a kook, this was clearly a woman of fearsome focus. Apart from a few bum notes, she was astounding to watch. The sheer mechanics of harp playing are completely elusive to me, but just the motion of her fingers over the strings was a strangely compelling visual, as you tried to connect it to the emanating sound. One cannot imagine her musical skill was obtained by seeking to look pixyish.

‘Emily ‘ and ‘Cosmia’ from Ys gained a degree of sprightliness for their liberation from strings, and the pick of The Milk Eyed Mender sounded as fresh as they did on release four years ago. The crowd’s familiarity with ‘Colleen’, a song that has only seen the light of day on a tour EP (Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band), spoke realms for their loyalty, but the real treat was the airing of a few new songs.

Played on the piano, they combined, in some odd way, gospel/soul and jazz influences, and a move away from the renaissance allusions of Ys. The lyrics were still fittingly dense, but the narrative came through more clearly, even on single listen. The final number, ‘Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie’ was spine-chillingly good, and then she was away.

That the crowd continued to demand an encore long after she’d left the stage at the 10:30 curfew, was testament to a singular talent.

Richard Davie
Pic: Rachel Lipsitz