In early 2007 I was caught-up in the excitement and indie-lovers’ whirlwind that was the inaugural V Festival. With a line-up consisting of acts such as Beck, The Rapture, Nouvelle Vague and headliners; Pixies, it was any indie-loving, skinny arts student’s wet dream. But one of the acts who was announced early, besides the bigger names really caught my attention, it was none other than ex-pulp and sidelined britpop soldier, Jarvis Cocker.
Having already secured tickets to the festival and headliners’ Pixies sideshow I felt it necessary to put down the feeble sum of $45 to see Jarvis and band in a more intimate location, at least one more intimate than a large field in the middle of Centennial Park in Sydney. I was somewhat last minute in my approach to ticket purchasing and found myself on ebay buying tickets from at a modest, below purchase price (sometimes you can stumble upon genuine people on ebay).
I showed up early as I had to organise the exchange of money and tickets with my ebay pal (who I later found out was a fellow music forumer at on a site we both frequent and had an extra ticket as he was given a press pass, genuine), once I had my ticket I entered Sydney’s Metro theatre and made my way to the front of the main theatre. I was early and in my haste had neglected to find out who the support act was going to be. Would it be a fellow V Festival artist, perhaps a local band who appeared lower down the bill at the festival? Ghostwood or The Valentinos (aka Lost Valentinos)? The lights dimmed over the intimate theatre and I was soon to find out the answer to my questioning.
As I remember it she was wearing a long, black sequined dress and plain black leggings to match her black shoes, yes, all mono tonal in appearance but that was that was to become irrelevant from the moment she, and her band, started playing the first chords of the first song of their support slot. With raw intensity they ripped through a balanced mix of honest rock songs and on the other side was the mellow, slow songs which complimented each other very well. Forty five minutes had passed and the audience was lapping it up yet it was time for the act to leave the Metro stage, for the very last time on that evening the lead-singer informed us that she was “Bertie Blackman…” and with that left the stage.
At the time I remember thinking to myself that I would research this previously unknown to me, Bertie Blackman but for whatever reason nothing ever came of that thought. I would be another 2 years until I heard Bertie’s voice again…
Only a few weeks ago I received a call from my girlfriend who told me that a couple of songs that we liked which were playing on high rotation on both triple j and fbi radio stations, was none other than Bertie Blackman. My face lit up at this and I told her that I had seen Bertie (and band) a couple of years ago when she supported Jarvis Cocker and had not seen her since. It turned out that her new album “Secrets and Lies” was coming out in a few days and she was going to be playing a show (in support of the album release) in Sydney in a just over a week’s time and we were going.
It was a cold and terribly wet mess outside on Oxford Street, the night of the Secrets and Lies album launch. Yet once downstairs in warm haven that was the (very intimate) Oxford Art Factory it was a completely different story. Over the next hour the main room would fill to capacity at this sold out show and I knew we were in for a great performance. Little did I know that Sydney was in fact Bertie’s hometown and I would like to think that this fact contributed nothing to the show selling out and would rather believe that all of the people waiting eagerly for her and her band to arrive on stage were there simply because they liked her new album as much as me.
The black curtain that surrounded the stage was finally thrown back at 10.30 and Bertie started the set with opening lyrics to the somber and solo performance of “Valentine”, it was a raw and honest introduction to a set that would be anything but downbeat. The songs that followed were all from her new album and it seems that she has possibly left her stripped-back rock and roll for a more modern and complex guitar, synth and drums, (with the use of pads) driven sound. The now electronically based Bertie was here and possibly staying this way and as the set continued I was not complaining.
“Thump” (or Th-a-u- a-uum-p) followed “Valentine” in a great musical juxtaposition between the slow, honest almost spoken word form of the first to the fast bpm of the odd time signature of the chorus drums. The combination of the two got the crowd going and siging along to “C’monnn! YEAH! C’mon!” of the chorus. Before the encore Bertie played most of the songs from the album and clevery left out the slower songs which lie at the end as this may have been a bad remedy for the Friday night crowd who were there to hear her faster songs and with good reason too. With the hard hitting, string featured “White Owl” to follow was a more mellow interval before the tempo rose on songs such as the radio favourite, tribal sounding “Heart” which had punters clapping along to Berties’ actions. Sexy, dark and mysterious was the nature of the “Black Cats” which was pulled off with album like perfection and precision.
“There’s a drama in the streets…” set the perfect setting for the pre-encore “Byrds of Prey”‘s synth-driven beauty. This was a great song to leave Art Factory audience in suspense for the next batch of songs from the band. It was a stand-out and this was the faster of the songs of the night which finally really did get everyone dancing. It was full of synth sounds yet was pulled-off in such a way that it didn’t sound cheap or over produced as it sometimes sound with bands who use it all the time such as Cut Copy and The Presets.
Seconds passed from the end of “Byrds of Prey” until they (Bertie and band) strolled everso confidently back onto the stage. A familiar drum beat was struck and I realised that the first beats of U2′s “Sunday Blooday Sunday” was being played. As much as I don’t like Bono and his ridiculous bunch of alias band members, I really did enjoy hearing this song being performed by a female songstress and being played in a more stripped back way in an intimate venue just sounded very appropriate. No $300 ticket stadium bullshit. Just Bertie, her band, the audience and a great rendition of the song was all that was needed.
Almost as if Kate Bush was being channeled by Bertie herself through vocals in the song “Sky is Falling”. Although complete with strings and deep syths and catchy guitar hooks and her staccato style of singing in the verses, Bertie manages to make this song all her own and it is a fantastic result. Live it sounds even better as you feel like the transition of the song from the recording to live performance would be no mean feat, especially in a venue as intimate as the OAF but it was done so seamlessly and when something like this can be accomplished with all components in play it is a great asset to the band and sounds even better to the audience. This was evident at the rapturous applause Bertie and the guys in her band received at the end of “Sky is Falling”.
Bertie’s new album Secrets and Lies is out now through iTunes and in stores in Australia
Check http://www.mypspace.com/bertieblackman for international release dates.
