At the tail end of the 80’s Throwing Muses were going places, signed to 4AD and touring with the Pixies as their support band whilst getting the critical attention, particularly in the UK, that made albums like Hunkpapa and Real Ramona NME/Melody Maker/Sounds favourites. But the band’s co-founding member Kristin Hersh chose a different path, less commercial but perhaps more creative as she balanced her solo work with two bands, Throwing Muses and 50ft Wave, whilst also becoming a super writer.
Support for the show came from the rather excellent Indie Rock of Lande Hekt who offer a Sundays‘ type feel to their sound and are well-received by the crowd. But it is the Muses that most people are really here to see. This tour is the band’s first in the UK for over a decade and for some of us a chance to finally see one of the bands that soundtracked our youth. Whilst recent album Moonlight Concessions featured the now regular Muses’ trio of Hersh, drummer Dave Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges, the touring line-up has developed into more of a family affair, with Narcizo and Georges replaced by Hersh’s partner, and former Muses’ bassist, Fred Abong on drums and Hersh’s son Dooney on bass. The trio are complemented by, the rather superb, cellist, Pete Harvey, who has accompanied Hershe on her last few solo tours.
The band take to the stage and launch straight a double-gut punch of ‘Theremini’, from their new album, and ‘Sunray Venus’, from their 2013 Purgatory/Paradise double album. The sound takes a couple of songs to settle down but once sorted it allows the cello to add a strong dynamic to the band’s sound, providing an additional melodic bass to the band’s more rockier tracks. Two-thirds of tonight’s setlist stems from the band’s last three albums, all released in the last twelve years, highlighting that Throwing Muses aren’t a band to rest on their history and regurgitate their most famous albums. They believe in their new music, and rightly so, and are committed to sharing with the audience. Tracks such as ‘Dark Blue’ and ‘Kay Catherine’ sound dirty and grungy, less polished than the Muses appeared at their commercial height of the early 90’s.
A smattering of older songs, such as ‘Him Dancing’ and ‘Counting Backwards’, are well received but this is not a nostalgic set by any means. The set sees Hersh play electric guitar for much of the set, only switching to acoustic for a few songs in the middle. But it is the rhythm section which holds it all together, Abong gets to hammer the drums into pieces, and tries out his new “prized cowbell”, in contrast to the recent album which saw David Narcizo’s subtle percussion, whilst Dooney attacks his bass like some energised demon.
After 80 minutes the band encore with attacking versions of ‘Shark’ and ‘Bright Yellow Gun’, wrapping up proceedings and reminding us that more than 35 years into their career Throwing Muses still have the ability to excite and energise an audience. Glad I finally got to see one of the defining bands of the late 80’s/90’s, hopefully not the last chance to catch them whilst they are performing like this.
