Goldfrapp & Alison Sudol at the Royal Festival Hall

Goldfrapp

Alison Sudol

Royal Festival Hall, 14 April 2022

Yet another postponed Covid gig, this celebration of the 20th anniversary of Goldfrapp's debut album, Felt Mountain, was supposed to take place two years ago. I must admit I didn't buy tickets back then as I'm pretty sure it sold out quickly but I have been wanting to see Goldfrapp live for years now, having bought every one of their albums, and when it was announced Alison Sudol was supporting, for her first UK solo shows, it seemed too good to miss. Thankfully I managed to get a last minute fourth row ticket and it felt meant to be.

The first Alison on the bill is best known these days for playing Queenie in the Fantastic Beasts movies, part of the Harry Potter universe. I know her better though as the singer/songwriter behind A Fine Frenzy, whose albums I have loved for years but was never lucky enough to see live as she rarely traveled to these shores. A Fine Frenzy's last album, in particular, Pines, still means so much to me and I think it's an underrated masterpiece that never got its just desserts. These days Sudol goes by her real name and in the midst of her recent acting career managed to release her debut solo EP, Moon, a few years back. Later this year she's set to release an album under her own name, which she tells us tonight will be called Still Comes The Night.

So, you can tell, I was super excited to finally see Alison Sudol live. I knew she wouldn't be playing any A Fine Frenzy material but was thrilled at the chance to hear her new material. Sudol floated onstage, wearing a gorgeous shimmering gold and white dress, her face beaming. She was backed by a small band, made up of guitar, bass/keyboards and drums, while she played acoustic guitar on one track.

Aside from the current single, the warm, sweet pop of Peaches, which she tells us was written about a dream she had about a child, just before she found out she was pregnant (she even dedicates it to her baby), most of songs are played without revealing their titles, but all sound quite atmospheric, often building throughout. The first is certainly like this, although it's intimate sound was lost a little in the big hall, but ended with Sudol vocalising in a witchy way.

The second was more jaunty with a fast strumming guitar and poppy, happy chorus. Another started with a more gentle beat that slowed down in the emotional chorus, with Sudol wailing "let me find the way." Another song saw Sudol play acoustic guitar on a 50s-style throwback ballad that let her voice fly and soar on the chorus. The title track from the forthcoming album, Still Comes The Night was a beautiful, slow-burning tale that Sudol apologised in advance that she may end up in tears during, but she managed the emotional intensity admirably. The set ended on a noisy, tribal beat that saw Sudol dancing and swirling around the stage like a glittery angel.

What a voice she has and the new songs sound fantastic. I really hope she plays some solo dates when the record is finally released because this promo of what's to come was truly lovely and uplifting.

I had no idea of what to expect live with a electronic band like Goldfrapp but things looked promising when a string section took to the stage along with pretty much your standard rock set-up of guitar, bass, and drums. Half of the duo, Will Gregory, was missing though, with Hazel Mills replacing him on keyboards. Not that it was particularly noticeable though as all eyes was firmly on Alison Goldfrapp throughout, emerging like the synth-pop Stevie Nicks, in a glittering black chiffon cape (who doesn't love a cape?).

As a celebration of their debut album not surprisingly the majority of the set showcased the most iconic songs from Felt Mountain. I had forgotten just how sultry and haunting those songs still are, like Bond themes from an alternative, darker universe. And, wow, how charismatic and mesmerising Alison Goldfrapp herself is. Her multi-octave voice can be low, jazzy and crooning one minute and then operatic and high, rising up to reach the rafters the next. She moodily pouted and swept her cape around her like a gothic queen will clutching the microphone and then inbetween songs chatted with the audience, laughing when, after asking the audience the far-away places a few had traveled from, one joker yelled "Peckham!" "Wow," she said, "how did you get here, by bus?"

There were a few tracks from other albums too, that fitted the mood of Felt Mountain, tastefully played alongside, such as Black Cherry, Hairy Trees, Road To Somewhere, Eat Yourself, You Never Know and the only track from the band's last album Silver Eye, Moon In Your Mouth, "an ode to life, desire and anyone who has left this world too soon," she says, which feels fitting after the past two years.

After a night of chilling, often eerie but spellbinding electro-noir, Goldfrapp returned for the encore in a sharp suit jacket and suddenly becomes the mistress of electro-pop, whipping us off our seats, with Ride A White Swan, Strict Machine and Train (the second encore!) turning the place into a light-filled disco and Goldfrapp stomping around the stage and looking and sounding magnificent. What an absolute star she is.