Lady Carol
Lady Carol @ Bosco Theater
10:15pm, Mon 1 Mar 2010
I’ve been lucky enough to catch snippets of Lady Carol prior to this evening’s show; she lent an air of refined elegance to A Company Of Strangers, and a dignity to the ramshackle proceedings of Circus vs. Sideshow. In both cases her haunting renditions of well-known songs were quite astonishing; her ukelele a plaintive accompaniment to Carol’s amazing voice. I loved those small doses, I really did.
The thing is, I kinda wish I hadn’t seen this show.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I still think Lady Carol is absolutely amazing. She’s utterly bewitching onstage, a gorgeous creature peering forcefully out from beneath her black hood, pale skin and blonde hair and dark red lips and… gorgeous. And that voice… that voice! Drifting effortlessly from soaring high notes to gravelly lows and – most importantly – well aware of when to not sing… when to let her songs have some air.
And she picked some blinding songs for this performance: Carol’s performance of Running Up That Hill would have left Kate happy, and the balance of delicacy and power was perfect for Heart-Shaped Box. Radiohead got a double-outing with Karma Police and Creep (as a glorious encore), and the tail end of Wild Is The Wind was gobsmacking.
So, after clumsily enthusing over her presentation and ability and choice of material, why have I said that I wish I hadn’t seen this show?
For me, Lady Carol has always been this mysterious stranger who would carefully take to the stage for a short time and blow you away. There was always an element of the unknown with her; mystique. And, during this long-form show, with her (albeit refined, especially the drumming) accompaniment, with her (interesting) little tales of her upbringing, her conversational tone…
…well, the mystique was shattered. The mysterious unknown is a lot more understandable.
Again, don’t get me wrong: this was a great show, and Lady Carol is a wonderful performer; but I just wish I had that mystique back.