Review – Rachel Gaudry & Band +
Juliet Obsessed & Martin Hayley
@
Bat & Ball Hotel 18Jan01
Do not let the image of ‘chick and
guitar’ permeate your thoughts of a set from Juliet Obsessed in any way
shape or form. From the first chord, through comments about the cleavage on
stage (referring to the 2” gap in the stage which forced her to adapt a ‘rock’
stance) and her a t-shirt declared progression
from White Trash to Pop Star in a week Juliet and accompanist Martin
Hayley dispelled any preconceptions and kept us enthralled through
their entire set.
Juliet
Obsessed travels in a duet vehicle of mostly
clean-and-free Ibanez
JP20 + Fender
Stratocaster & pedals. The break comes occasionally with a
pure-fuzz fretless bass accompaniment or the technology of Larry the Drum
Machine, and swapping the Maton acoustic for
a stool-and-mic. While summarising her songs might almost be the same for any
‘chick and guitar’ act, Juliet’s
muse is more real, more believable, more entertaining. She works/interacts with
the audience like a pro, relating to her crowd like she would a group of old
friends. Stand-out songs include Before
which featured a brilliant Tommy/Phil
Emmanuel guitar break from Martin, and Girlfriend, adding ambiguity to an
exceptional performance. Juliet
Obsessed – a name to watch!
‘Next time, read the release,’ I found
myself saying about the top-bill act for the 
night.
‘And band’ generally means the full kit, not sans-drums or –bass. Up until
tonight Rachel Gaudry
has only appeared with her faithful Fender Rhodes,
but now there’s a CD out you have to be able to provide the punters with that
which they can also take home. And what better way to open than with songs from
same (Don’t Push Me In and Come Away from the new album “Leaving Traces”
through MGM
Distribution). The next few songs saw Rachel alternating between the
her two instruments might lead to maybe a Rick
Wakeman-styled stand for the Roland atop the Rhodes
and, fittingly, track 7 of the set was track 7 from the album (Love Is What
I Need) which was where I had to leave the proceedings.
Professional musicians make the
difference between having to rehearse and knowing that you can rely on them. RG said before the gig that
they’d only played together once before and while the charts might have given
things away for the trained observer one wouldn’t otherwise know. The time
overseas has certainly helped this artist grow and more gigs will allow us to
watch this happen at home before she choofs off again.