For most of 2020, the only 'Aeroplane Bathroom' many of us experienced was the one referenced in the opening track of Gordi’s second album, 'Our Two Skins'.
Her sophomore release, inspired by tumultuous times, including the death of grandmother, was an ideal lockdown soundtrack, with its songs about panic and perseverance. On the round stage of the Wonderland Spiegeltent, surrounded by synths, effects pedals and keys, fans were treated to a tour long awaited, as Gordi completed the second solo show in a two-night run with a little help from a surprise guest.
As the final notes of ‘Aeroplane Bathroom’ rang out within the ornate mirrored Spiegeltent, Gordi lamented that her sustain pedal wasn’t working, which prompted a shadowy figure – a roadie perhaps – to scurry through the backstage tent flap in search of a replacement pedal. It’s alright, she’s a doctor, accustomed to pressure situations and emergency adaptation. She stood, grabbed her guitar, and delivered ‘Hate The World’, a song inspired by Hannah Gadsby’s ‘Nanette’, about enduring in a hate-filled world without giving in to it.
The mystery figure then emerged from backstage – not a member of the stage crew, it was Alex Lahey, collaborator on recently released single ‘Dino’s’, inspired by a dive bar in Nashville that the pair drank at back when international travel was a thing. No luck with the sustain pedal backstage, Alex said, but there was plenty of fake eyelashes and hula hoops, she joked, before they launched into the new single.
Aside from her 2015 single ‘Can We Work It Out’ and a cover of Paul Kelly’s ‘When I First Met Your Ma’, Gordi’s hour-long set was predominately and understandably material from ‘Our Two Skins’. To unleash third single, ‘Volcanic’, though, the issue of the sustain pedal needed to be addressed. When a roll of gaffer tape failed to do the trick, it was time for some daredevil improvisation. As Gordi joked “people fly from the trapeze in here”, so she can take a leap of faith too. After the song’s crescendo, the vocoder eruption of “it must wear you out”, she took a breath or two; it was a successful landing from the trapeze.
Gordi is extraordinary live. While her other job may be a doctor, her music heals too.
★★★★☆
