Event Date: February 18, 2009
Event Venue: LSO St. Luke’s, London

I was one of a few fans to get a ticket to a private show which was being filmed for broadcast on TV.

I was up in the balcony where I guess there were around 60 people in single rows on three sides. Down below there were probably not many more than 100 people seated among tables – special guests such as Marianne’s friends and family, record company execs, press etc. The stage was 3 or 4 steps up, quite wide and had the imposing church windows up behind it.

There were 11 musicians - organ/piano, 4 x string section, guitar, drums, bass, brass/woodwind, brass/woodwind/accordion/piano, guitar/ukulele/mandolin/viola/saw. And, of course, one Marianne Faithfull dressed in a black suit and white blouse, mostly standing but sometimes seated on a stall. This was the first time she had performed the new songs in front of people and she said she was a bit nervous to start with.

I won’t go into detail about every song - I’ll just pick out some highlights. She started with a nice rendition of the familiar ‘Times Square’ and then quickly into the songs from the new album with ‘Down From Dover’, the merits of the large band already showing with brass, strings and organ all adding their bit to create a rich backing track. ‘Children of Stone’ included some marvellous flute playing – I’m quite partial to a bit of flute. One of my favourites from the new album ‘Hold On Hold On’ moved along at pace and ended in a great fuzz viola solo (or was it violin?). Another of my favourites ‘The Crane Wife’ started up to a shout of “I love you” from the balcony, building to a crescendo of vocals, drums, guitar and accordion. ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ appeared to be a favourite of Marianne’s and her voice was a superb match for it.

Back to an old song with ‘Broken English’, not as raucous as usual but a more sinister, rumbling sound with an appropriate sounding sax solo. It was nice to hear a different arrangement which took advantage of the big band. Possibly my favourite of the new tracks on the night was ‘Kimbie’, with Marianne’s excellent vocals accompanied by guitar and accordion. It seemed like the whole audience was holding it’s breath throughout the song. Then, my most definite favourite new one, the Morrissey song ‘Dear God Please Help Me’. It was every bit as good as I hoped, with the strings really coming to the fore.

Then followed ‘Sister Morphine’ with Marianne doing a very good impersonation of Bob Dylan and threatening to do the whole song that way sometime, ‘The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan’ with an appropriate accordion accompaniment, ‘Why’d Ya Do It’, as good as ever but again a bit different with organ and sax prominent, and a special arrangement of ‘As Tears Go By’. It was apparently the first time Marianne has sung it live to the original backing arrangement, including the Cor Anglais played by one of the very versatile musicians. Strings and piano were added to make it a very special performance indeed.

‘Sing Me Back Home’ was performed as the encore and seemed an apt winding up, going home kind of song.

This was the end of a very special and intimate performance, the likes of which most of us will never see again, and I felt quite privileged to be there. I hope, for the sake of those that weren’t as lucky as me, that there will be a tour later in the year with the same band and similar set list, as I’m sure you’ll think it’s great.

Thanks to Marianne for making some tickets available to her fans and for a night I won’t forget.

Event Date: July 25, 2009
Event Venue: SOUTHBANK CENTRE

No longer the sweet sexy rock chick of the Sixties but a mature singer with a smoky Edith Piaf / Jaz voice that sends shivers down your spine. Smouldering sex allied with an all embracing warmth. What a show. Hasn't the voice for the early hits but certainly has for her later stuff. Highly recommend. Could watch and listen to this lady all night; but chance would be a fine thing.