Queen Elizabeth Hall
South Bank Centre, London
13th June 2000
The South Bank Centre seemed to be all on with their rules of protocol as I watched David Thomas from a tiny vertical glass in the big imposing closed door or the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I was a little late and the steward decided not to send me and the long line of other late-comers in to take seats until a break between songs. Mr.Thomas, (frontman of Pere Ubu) doesn’t bother too much with breaks between songs, so we stood, me in the lucky only view spot, for most of the trio’s set. Eventually we were all loosed on the inside and found seats and got on with enjoying a great lot of humour and bittersweet master performing. David Thomas seems to have just the right hold on the most righteous of Mississippi Valley blues. His voice is big and soothing and the perfect tone for his story -telling brand of song singing. The combination of the Pale Boys Keith Monine on guitar and Andy Diagram with his very E-ffected trumpet gave the perfect back up for spirit swilling David. In fact, Mr.Diagram’s really far-out trumpeting can easily cause a stir on its own and probably very nearly steals the show. Some of their music was soulful, some was beautiful, some was very sad. All of the set was thought provoking and enjoyable, and a tantalizing wind up for Slapp Happy.
After some moments of technical difficulty, Slapp Happy took the stage, one by one, to thunderous applause. This claimed to be only the second ever show for them in this guise, but as they have just come off a successful ten or so date tour of Japan, we see this can’t be true. Onstage, Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad, at the start shadowed from the wings by the intimatable figure of Dagmar Krause, all seemed as comfortable and confident with each other as if they have been performing for 30 years, which indeed, they have, just not together under this name, with these songs. Blegvad introduced most pieces and made little humours over their ages, and the “cuteness” the Japanese seemed to label them with (owing that as long as he and Moore stay in the shadows, Slapp Happy is a cute little band). And true it is, they are cute, and they are iconic and the perfect definition of a pop sound, though I doubt they’ve ever seen the light of day on a pop chart, thank goodness. The music is simple, the lyrics are intelligent and almost like little fables filled with practicallities for surviving in the world.
Dagmar Krause is, without pause, the indisputable star. With a vocal range to rival, well, anyone, the diminutive Pop-Krautrock-goddess is nothing if not genius. Singing almost every Slapp Happy song I love, excuding “The Drum” (to the consternation of my companion), I felt I understood by seeing her live why it is I like this band so much. I don’t have too much appreciation for pop music in general, I wouldn’t often be accused of being an “easy listener”. Still, Dagmar and the Slapp Happy team have captured an audience for three decades of unlikely fans, and the woman’s energy and sincerity and the purity of her oh-so-versatile voice may just be the reason why. All and all, Peter Blegvad was a little goofy, Anthony Moore was holding a little background space for himself, and Ms. Krause was queen. Together they made the phrase “slap happy” ring completely true as they seemed to be the happiest people in the universe, as good pop icons, I suppose, should do. Leaving the QEH, it was notable that most faces were smiling, and there was an undeniable air of well being. With any luck they will get to like this performing jag, and we will see much more of the Slapp Happy trio in the future.
