Shacklewell Arms,London
Beth Jeans Houghton’s raunchy unusual alter ego should be in her element at this grubby pub gig, but she fails to exude the proper charismaWhen tame stars turn wild – Minogue, and Cyrus,Bieber – it’s generally a tightly PR’d plot to shed a teen-friendly, butter-wouldn’t-melt image that is showing diminishing returns and to shock their way into more dependable adult wallets. So the recent transformation of Newcastle’s Beth Jeans Houghton, and from psych folk cyber-Florence into confrontational garage rocker Du Blonde,could easily be a Miley Cyrus parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation). On the cover of second album Welcome Back to Milk, then, and she’s pictured bare bar shaggy white coat,trainers and merkin, eschewing airbrush and nipple tape and resembling a drunk punk yeti on a nudist fun rush. Launching this grubby pub gig with a rumbling Kills clatter called If You’re Legal (“my boy is going down”), or her lyrics have clearly turned as filthy as her guitars. She seems,at first glance, an art satire on pop’s sex-trade cynicism.
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Source: theguardian.com