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A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
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Kitchen W8
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London,
David Smyth's rating
Reader rating
Description: Power-soul vocalist Beth Ditto and her funk-punk band on the road promoting new single, Jealous Girls.
Phone: 0207344 0044
Website: www.kentishtownforum.com
Email: info@kentishtownforum.com
Trains: Tube/BR: Kentish Town 
, Tube / Bus: 134, 214, C2, N20 
Extra info: Pub
Star quality: Beth Ditto showed she can really sing
Despite the T-shirts insisting "Gossip is a band" at the merchandise booth, there's only one star in this Arkansas trio. Beth Ditto has been part of everyone's life this year.
She's the one-woman personality explosion who has made being an overweight lesbian the most glamorous thing on the planet, whose bulging catsuits and howled proclamations have transported her from the indie ghetto to tabloid infamy.
As her group finally closes its long campaign for breakthrough album Standing in the Way of Control with two major London shows, Ditto can look back on a period in which she has been dissected by Germaine Greer, written a problem page for the Guardian and appeared naked, armpit hair proudly dangling, on the cover of the NME.
Gossip-column interest has edged her dangerously close to freak status, but as last night's show proved, above everything else, she can really sing.
Tottering back and forth, bawling and wailing, her towering voice dominated the room. As she frequently wandered off the script to improvise repeated lines with genuine soul, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie could do little but watch carefully and try to keep up. Their skeletal backing kept Ditto's voice as the focus but also often failed to match her fire. Paine had a fraction of the ability of Jack White of the White Stripes or Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, other members of thinly populated bands who can make their guitars erupt.
Paine's instrument squalled impressively on Jealous Girls and a surprise cover of George Michael's Careless Whisper, and finally found power to match the singer on the latest album's title track, still their best song by such a margin that tonight it prompted a stage invasion.
Even amid the clamour, Ditto stood out a mile. She may disappear now to record a new album, but she won't fade away for a long while yet.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
As someone whose been watching the band evolve for some years I'd say David doesn't get it. Brace's style is rhythm soul-punk and doesn't bear comparison with Zinner goth-metal-fuzz or White's bluesy pastiches. The band only really took off when Hannah replaced original drummer Kathy Mendonca. She is absolutely rock solid. The pair's steady minimalism is what allows Beth to shine.
- Joly, NYC, USA
I watched The Gossip last night (Friday) at the Forum - they rocked! Yes Beth is the main star attraction, her voice is as powerful as her volumptous body but Brace and Hannah are the perfect combination - they're impressive musicians keeping the tempo up and accompanying their master, the crowd went wild.
There is so much commotion about Ditto, once you see her live and witness her it really sinks in why - she is truly a rock goddess of our times.
- Michele Buchanan, London
I was at last night's gig and although I was fan already, Beth Ditto impressed me even more with her energy, her voice and her stamina. The diverse crowd were as one as we watched her own the stage, unlike anyone I have seen in recent memory.
- Deb Stein, London
