Toyah Toyah Toyah

I was in Cheltenham this weekend where the temperatures were allegedly hitting minus six at night, and the snow that fell on Thursday night was still there on Sunday morning.  This is Cleeve Hill at about half past seven on Saturday morning:

There were even snowdrops in the snow:

On Saturday evening, I went to a free concert by Toyah.  Yes, that Toyah.  In a church.  This church.  Incongruous?  A little.  Especially when she appeared wearing a tight PVC top singing “plant the seed, do the deed, melt me.”  The talk of melting was also premature as the beautiful church was very cold: my sister and I took off our coats when we arrived, then put them back on after 4 songs.

The group was Toyah, her husband (lead guitar), and two bassists (including someone who used to play for REM.)  The bassists were astonishing and clearly having a lot of fun.  Toyah has a wonderful voice.  At times, though, I think the audience were wondering what they had let themselves in for.  Most were local people, including a big contingent of church-goers.  They listened in a polite, radio 4 kind of way while Toyah created “the aural equivalent of film noir” with irregular time signatures, discords and feedback.

Toyah is bonkers, in a very sweet way.  She reminisced about her friendship with the President of Estonia (about whom she had written a song with the hook, “does this sound like the noise in your head?”)  She was using a pedal to loop herself on some songs: it was clearly a bit sticky because at one point she was stomping away at it like a weaver at the treadle of a loom possessed.  And when her husband had a big solo, she would whirl round and point shamanically.

I can say with some honesty that I have never been to a gig quite like that.  But it was free; it ended with a collection to help raise money for the upkeep of the church; and although not all of the songs were my cup of tea,  some were actually quite entertaining (including the one about the Estonian President.  I have downloaded it from iTunes.)   So to Toyah I say – respect!