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Bottom of the Hill February 2, 2001 Review by Squid "You know what? FUCK pretentious people, y'all!", screamed Beth, lead singer of The Gossip, "'Cause you know what? You are no better than anybody else!" This was just one of several declarations made throughout their set, and she had the normally staid indie dorks hanging on her every sound, going nuts. It's like Nabokov said: there are no original stories left, only original tellings. The Gossip probably aren't offering us anything we haven't heard before: they're a garage blues trio of guitar, drums and vocals, albeit with queerly leaning lyrics. What they are doing, thanks to Beth, is bringing what can only be described as a work ethic to their performance. I also need to describe Beth to you: she's a sexy brunette fat-positive Baby Dyke with a southern drawl that was driving some of the women around me over the edge. She didn't help matters by stripping down til she was clad only in a black bra, pink satin ruffled undies and fishnets and purring into the mic, "So...where are all the butch dykes at tonight?", and giggling. With the assistance of Sassy Lassy, the Gossip's peroxided, pixie-ish resident dancer, Beth didn't just work the crowd, she worked them over. She was so unapologetically energetic and so overtly sexual that the audience had no choice but to stand there in awe. (Particularly during the songs punctuated with orgasmic moans.) With that kind of energy cranked up, good loud garage rock was a bonus, and there were few people in the place who weren't dancing. Most important of all, The Gossip win "Best Conclusion of Gig" award by yanking people on stage to dance during the last song. Twenty people on the stage at the Bottom of the Hill is no small feat, especially when they're all dancing on top of people still playing their instruments. Thanks to the folks of Aislers Set for telling people about this show. We never would have known to go to this show if it hadn't been recommended on sf_indie list. ©2001 playinginfog.com |