Tonight’s venue (2 June), Carriageworks, is an old train construction factory that adds a 'Trainspotting' air to proceedings.
I’ve been at art things here before. But a gig, will it work? Sound fears turn out to be unwarranted. Tis only glorious. And the industrial backdrop of black-smithery is a nice juxtaposition for the arrival of the shiny-pop-princess spaceship that is Goldfrapp.
And with the opener ‘Utopia’, when Alison Goldfrapp hits those high soprano notes, I can hear Morgan Freeman narrations: “It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab, little cage and made those walls dissolve away and for the briefest of moments, every last one of us in Carraigeworks felt free.”
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Followed up by ‘Lovely Head’ it seems we’re in for a night of unbridled, crowd pleasure. The throngs of shimmery-jacket adorers are out-shined by the maestro herself clad in a mercurial, silver leather-suit. The wind machine does to her hair what her voice is doing to our spines. It’s all very ‘can't take your eyes/ ears off Alison’ for the first few tracks.
But then there’s this band. Such synth-poptasticness. See-through bass, no guitar, real drums and an array of synths that makes it all very Matrix-y. Well it was filmed in Sydney.
Goldfrapp, Carriageworks, 2 June 2017, Photo Daniel Boud“It’s really nice here in Sydney. You might think it’s cold. But we think it’s actually nice and warm.” The band look sorta like if the Human League went to law school and this was their bit on the side.
The backing vocalists brandish double keytars in attack formation. A triptych of lunar projections and stars renders the room all-synth electron phosphorescence. Real humans with real(ish) instruments nailing it. Star Trek warp engines hit style warp 9-er. Her photon voice bursts set to stun. Klingon non-believers better stay the fuck away.
Goldfrapp, Carriageworks, 2 June 2017, Photo Daniel BoudAnd then, upping it a notch, the vocals harmonies hit. The octave girl vocal on ‘Anymore’. And when the three-part female vocals hit on the likes of ‘Systemagic’ it is… well, astonishing. It glistens. It’s like the mother of falcons trained her two chicks to sing in her likeness and they are ruling the seven kingdoms. It keeps reminding me of My Bloody Valentine’s Wire cover ‘Map Ref. 41°N 93°W’ or The B-52s. Pure, pop perfection.
Given that I’m halfway through reading Johnny Marr’s autobiography, the awesome ‘Set The Boy Free’, I can’t help thinking a bit of guitar would Nile Rogers the shit out of this wonderfully. But no, they stick to their synth guns.
And just when it seemed they reached peak synth, a Kraftwerk kraut-rock beat drops and they go full 'Tron’. The drummer and even the bass player are beating on their pads. Jesus, they’re all at it.
Goldfrapp, Carriageworks, 2 June 2017, Photo Daniel BoudAlison checks if we’re ok and enjoying ourselves. “The bar is still open? Good!” ‘No. 1’s hook of “I'm like a dog to get you” has a Killers vibe. Crowd-pleaser factor 9,000. It gets Euro-pop at one point. They take my Berlin aqua-crystal jewellery away. ‘Oh La La’ takes us up to that shiny T-Rex spirit in the sky.
Encore ‘Strict Machine’ closes the deal. We are under her Goddess synth-wizard spell. “…And shout-out to you with the glow sticks!”
We have been to the Felt Mountain. We have seen further over the synth-pop horizon than before. Thank you Goldfrapp.
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