Laura Love (FringeTIX)
Laura Love @ Bosco Theatre
6:30pm, Tues 13 Mar 2007
I’m a big fan of the bass… well, I’d prefer the cello, that completely rocks my world, but the bass – and more specifically, funk bass – is perfectly boat-floating, as well. So when I spied in the Garden Guide (not the Fringe Guide) that eclectic funk-folk-bassist Laura Love was in town, I thought that show worthy of a bash.
From the soaring opening of Amazing Grace, to the contemplative closer of Put A Little Love In Your Heart, Laura Love – joined onstage by fiddler Barbara Lamb and (later) guitarist Susie Keynes (from Fruit) belted out a set that – quite simply – rocked.
Of course, “rocked” is entirely the wrong word – in theory. With a fair whack of the songs being derived from old slave songs, there’s a certain mournful tone to a lot of tracks – but throughout, Love’s bass underpins the songs wonderfully; soft notes through verses, crisp funk in the chorus, glorious slides when they fit. And her voice – her voice! – superb, and a massive range… though nothing matches the opening rambling vocal expedition of Amazing Grace, Love remains faultless throughout.
Lamb also contributes heavily to the vocals, and her fiddling is wonderful – she chews through a lot of fibres on her bow. Together, Lamb and Love have a blistering one-two in the middle of the set, with a stomping NeGrass instrumental followed by the cheek of “Fat Tommy Wouldn’t Kiss Me… So I Kissed His Sister.” And, what’s more, they absolutely loved being on stage – you could see it on their faces.
At the end of the set, I was teared-up and gobsmacked and swollen-hearted. A brilliant, brilliant show, full of hefty funk and maudlin mood and broken hearts and unrequited love and songs from the south and north and… everything. Fantastic.