Charlotte Gainsbourg at Village Underground

Charlotte Gainsbourg
Sons Of Raphael
Village Underground, 29 March 2018

I almost got lost on the way to the Village Underground despite being there once before. It's a strange little venue with a tube carriage on the roof and the entrance around the back, but somehow I wandered to the right place after spotting the queue to get in. The couple in front of me had traveled from France to see the show and another girl was from Hong Kong. It was clear that this was going to be a packed gig full of the devoted.

Once inside there were a few photographers having a strop because Charlotte Gainsbourg's crew had been instructed to move the barrier right up to the stage leaving them without a place to shoot and having to slum it in the crowd with us mere mortals. I did feel sorry for some of them because it must be frustrating to have an assignment and then not know if you'll be able to get a good picture to submit but, oh my god, some of them really do think they are more important than anyone else there. Case in point has to be the venue's staff photographer, a grumpy Italian lady who was threatening fans and fellow professional photographers that she would get security to move people out of her way only to be amusingly put in her place by a photographer for a major newspaper. Not surprisingly and amusingly I am yet to see Village Underground put up any official photos. So sad.

She did however, seem to get plenty of snaps of the support act, Sons Of Raphael, two brothers who sound like they have foreign accents but are apparently from the poshest part of London: Hampstead (they even shot their one music video at their fancy boarding school). They look startlingly young, like they should still be at school although apparently are 18 and 21, and the band is just them with guitars: no bass or drums.

To me they sound like a teenage garage band who have obviously listened to a lot of The Strokes and maybe a bit of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. They are definitely entertaining though and have a punky, snotty attitude with singer Ronnel Raphael calling out the photographer who is angrily texting about the barrier situation throughout their set. At the end Ronnel throws down his guitar and storms off the stage like he is pissed off that they didn't get a good enough response but who knows, it may have been an entitled tantrum or all an act. They've only released two songs so far so it's difficult to know if they are the next big thing but I'd be surprised if they are. 

I was pleased with myself when I managed to get a place at the front thinking I'd have a superb view throughout but then when the roadies started putting up a frame made of tube lights and placed keyboards far behind it, I realised the elusive Ms Gainsbourg was not going to be front and centre for anyone tonight, not the photographers nor the crowd.

Still, it was exciting when she did finally run onto the stage, her hair short and tousled, and wearing a white t-shirt, jeans and the kind of bomber jacket which I remember being really popular in the 80s. She looks androgynous and cool, a far cry from the glamorous movie star she is when walking red carpets, more down to earth and part of the band.

Gainsbourg is without doubt more famous as an actress than a singer or musician but it makes sense that she does both considering her father was Serge Gainsbourg, one of France's greatest music stars, and her mother is Jane Birkin, an iconic singer and actress. Her first records as a young teen were written and produced by her father but as an adult she has released four brilliant albums by herself, the last of which, Rest, is probably her best and most accomplished yet (I even included it in my favourite albums of last year).

I've been wanting to see Gainsbourg live for so long (it's been six years since she last played a solo show in London) and here she is in front of me at long last. The first thing I'm surprised at is that she is a genuinely adept musician, playing keyboards for a good part of the set. Apparently she has always been a shy performer and part of the reason she hasn't toured in so long is due to how awkward she feels on stage. I don't feel that at all tonight although her keyboard is turned so she isn't facing the audience and when she does stand by a mike it is almost behind her instrument or completely at the back of the stage. The tube lighting placed all around, contains and frames the band, but does also seem to be a comforting barrier between Gainsbourg and the crowd. I completely understand now why she didn't want photographers snapping away in her face. It makes sense.

Although she doesn't say too much throughout, at one point she does explain that tonight is all about the new record Rest and they actually play ten out of the eleven tracks on the album, starting with moody, French synth of Lying With You, the neon lights at full blaze.

It's true that Gainsbourg's voice isn't the strongest but there's something so utterly charming and captivating about her whispery vocals and it's a pleasure to hear them live and so effective on the nursery rhyme turned spooky autobiography, Ring-A-Ring O' Roses. The whole of the album was inspired by the deaths of her father and her sister Kate, so there is definitely a sadness and introspection in the music that is also in the air tonight.

In fact after performing the song she wrote for her late sister (Kate) and then one of the songs written for her by her father (Charlotte Forever), she speaks about how comforting it was to see her sister's name and her own together on the set list. "I dedicated my album to her," she tells us, "and tonight, also."

One of the highlights of the entire show has to be the standout on the album too, Deadly Valentine, a beautiful storm of 80s synths and flashing neon lights, that sees Gainsbourg finally walk through the lighted frame at the front of the stage and momentarily relax in the audience's full view as the instrumental part of the song comes to its climax. It's all quite stunning. 

She only acknowledges her other solo albums a few times tonight, giving us the poppy Neil Hannon/Jarvis Cocker penned The Songs That We Sing (containing the perfect line for the show tonight "and the songs that we sing, do they mean anything to the people you're singing them to, people like you") and Heaven Can Wait, from her record with Beck, IRM, which has a more electro-pop feel that the folky strum of the original.

Rather than take on anymore old material she does a quick piano version of Kanye West's Runaway, which I must admit I was not really familiar with and it did sound amusingly odd to me to hear her sing with such an elegant voice, "let's have a toast for the douchebags, let's have a toast for the assholes". I don't know if it's directed towards anyone in particular but it's certainly a pretty way to insult someone coming from Charlotte's lips.

The main show ends with the moody disco of Les Oxalis complete with atmospheric French whispered vocals and Charlotte playing the piano riff long after the rest of the musicians had left the stage.

The encore brings another surprise. I don't think Gainsbourg has ever performed live any of the songs her father wrote for her on her first teenage album release - at least not in her adult years - but earlier in the show we got Charlotte Forever, which sounded like a beautiful French movie soundtrack classic (which indeed it was, coming from the film Charlotte and her father made together in the early 80s) and then as the final song tonight we got her controversial first single, Lemon Incest. The original video and suggestive lyrics are admittedly creepy but performed by Charlotte now in her late 40s, it suddenly takes on a different light and fits well into the set with its 80s synth sound. The crowd actually sings along with the French lyrics and cheer. Since a lot of people singing around me are old white guys, I suppose Serge would approve but it is bizarre. 

A review I read after said there were sublime moments but lots of boring ones too during the show but I couldn't feel more differently. It's true Gainsbourg is a shy performer but she is an enchanting one too and her band couldn't be better (there was even a guy fiddling with buttons and computers at the back making the whole thing feel very sci-fi). Sometimes it's nice to experience a performer that doesn't have the whole rock/pop star swagger but is still able to charm you and make you feel their emotions, even through a heavy synth and electro sound.

I'm so happy I finally got to see Charlotte Gainsbourg live. It was definitely worth the long wait.