Kim Deal at the Roundhouse

Kim Deal

TTSSFU 

Roundhouse, 20 June 2025

What a gig filled with joy this was! I've obviously seen Kim Deal live before (in The Breeders, The Amps and the Pixies too) but she was beaming from the moment she walked onstage and it was so absolutely contagious. It didn't hurt that she had an amazing ten-piece band backing her, who had great chemistry, but there was tremendous love for Deal and you know she could feel it and she radiated happiness back at us. This wonderful gig will be hard to beat, it was so much fun!

It was one of the hottest days of the year, unusually hot for June in the UK anyway, so maybe because of it, even though I was late getting there and the doors were already open, I still managed to get a prime spot (partly thanks too to some lovely people at the gig) and for a while, the place was strangely empty. Thankfully, I think people were just cooling themselves off in the local pubs before the show because by the time the support act came on, the place finally began filling out.

I hadn't heard of TTSSFU, which seemed to be a band (a drummer, guitarist, bassist and guitar-playing frontwoman) but it's actually the solo project of Manchester-based artist Tasmin Stephens. She certainly looked cool, wearing a vintage-looking white slip dress that Courtney Love would have surely nicked from her back in the day and strapping on a distinctive heart-shaped guitar.

The music was loud and beautifully noisy with a cool punky attitude and reminded me of the wall of feedbacking sounds by the likes of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine (who I funnily enough had been reminiscing about seeing at this very venue before the show), with deep bass lines and plenty of fuzzy guitars.

There was an amusing moment when the drummer's kick-drum pedal broke and the band were looking around and calling for a replacement, and a helpful roadie grabbed the one from Kim Deal's drummer and saved the day. The drummer triumphantly held it aloft and the crowd cheered before the band resumed playing, all laughing. It was a cute moment in the middle of the dark music. 

The best bit came though near the end, when Stephens suddenly jumped from the stage, climbed over the barrier and with her long microphone lead trailing behind her, walked through the crowd, singing to them and even bear hugging some lucky fan, before climbing again back to the stage and resuming the song. It was pure, exciting punk rock energy and a definite highlight of their set.

Although earlier, Stephens had said that a trio of songs were the sad ones, most had a gloomy goth vibe (I mean this in the most complimentary way). The final song though was just passion and anger, with Stephens  snarling "I hate you, I hope you die" over and over again. She then threw down her guitar, jumped from the stage and ran backstage in a dramatic but memorable exit. Naturally, I loved it.

I've never seen Kim Deal with such an elaborate stage and when her band took their places, I could see she not only had the usual drums, bass and guitar, there was also a brass section, a keyboard player, a string section (violin and cello) and a backing singer. It was fun seeing them all taking their places with smiles on their faces, but nothing compared to the smile on the face of Kim Deal herself as she walked on stage to roars from the crowd. It was clear how beloved she is and I think she definitely felt that love, as sometimes she seemed slightly overwhelmed by all the cheers and applause. 

She looked absolutely stunning, so much younger than her 64 years, wearing a black shirt emblazoned with a pink flamingo, like the one featured on the cover of her first solo album, Nobody Loves You More. But best of all was seeing that absolutely beaming smile of hers: you can't help but smile too, especially when she and the band start playing.

Starting with the title track, they basically played the whole album through in order but this is more than fine with me as it sounds fantastic, especially hearing it with added horns and cello and violin, the sound is so full and gorgeous and raw, with Deal's distinct and smokey voice, still taking centre stage. 

Highlights for me came from the heartbreaking Are You Mine?, about a rare moment of clarity from her late mother during her battle with Alzheimer's. It's something I'm dealing with myself with my own mother at the moment, so I felt quite emotional hearing Deal sing this loving song live and she seemed to feel every word too. It was a beautiful moment.

Elsewhere, songs like Crystal Breath and Big Ben Beat sounded awesomely, discordant and groovy, I couldn't help myself from saying "Wow!" out loud is sounded so good and so cool. 

Throughout, Deal introduced all the band between songs by talking about where each member came from, which was a nice and more memorable way than the usual band introductions and allowed Deal to ramble a little in an endearing way.  

Deal and the band whizzed through the album (it's only 35 minutes long on record) - even doing the short song Bats In The Afternoon Sky, with Deal putting down her guitar to trade vocals with her backing vocalist whose name I unfortunately didn't catch. And when she sang, the string-laden ballad Summerland, crooning "it's dazzling to me" under the shining stage lights, it really did feel dazzling.

The last song from the record, A Good Time Pushed, felt appropriately exuberant and fun and when she sang "we are having a good time" it felt like she was speaking for us all.

There was a lovely moment then when the band left the stage, leaving just the cellist and Deal with her acoustic guitar to sing a really lovely song called Beautiful Moon, which I hadn't heard before but apparently is one of the B-sides from the album. It sounded haunting and lonesome and showcased her voice beautifully.

The rest of the set came from her back catalogue with The Breeders, which of course, went down a storm with everyone. Who could not feel joy hearing songs like Invisible Man, Off You, No Aloha, Drivin' On 9 and, my favourite, Safari. Deal and her band even did her cover of The Beatles' Happiness Is A Warm Gun (I'm sorry, her version is better than the original, it just is), which sounded even more triumphant given it had an amusing false start when Deal's guitar wasn't tuned correctly.  

Suddenly the guitar roadie appeared with Deal's bass guitar and I knew what was going to happen next, or at least I thought I did. "I used to be in a band called the Pixies," she told us as if we didn't already know and love her for it. She then said, what we didn't realise was that this song always needed was some horns and also... Dave Grohl!" And then there he was with a smile on his face to match Kim Deal's. "I'm happy to do whatever you want!" he exclaimed, strapping on a Les Paul guitar (it may well have been the one Deal herself was using earlier that night) and giving us some of the famous "arrrhoooo" vocals from the legendary Pixies track. 

They of course then launched into an absolutely joyous Gigantic and it wasn't just Grohl singing along, it was pretty much everyone. The crowd went absolutely wild, it was such a thrilling and exciting moment, that left everyone grinning as much as Grohl and Deal, with Grohl crouching before Deal's guitarist, as he played the famous guitar riff. I've always thought Gigantic was the greatest Pixies song and it was amazing to hear The Breeders play it last year at the Garage, but this was something so unexpected and special too. It was incredible to see these two old friends play together and having such fun on stage. It definitely was the cherry on top of an already brilliant night.

Although the band lined up on the stage (along with Grohl) and took their bows after this, there were enough cheers from the crowd to entice them back on for an encore and we got two more Breeders classics, Do You Love Me Now? and, of course, Cannonball, which still sounds as fresh and bouncy as it did back in 1993.

It ended perfectly, on this absolute high note, leaving us waiting more but perfectly satisfied at the same time, a fulfilling 22 song set that lasted a well-rounded hour and a half (I couldn't help but think of how I missed her Barbican show earlier this year because I already had a ticket for Sturgill Simpson where he played for three hours and by the end I was wishing I had gone to the Deal show because it was already over when he was only half done!).

For me this show had everything I wanted and more. I loved hearing every single song from the new album, it was so much fun hearing all the old favourites too and then it was an incredible and thrilling surprise when Dave Grohl joined her to sing Gigantic. And it was all over at a reasonable time too (I'm old, these things are important to me!)

This was definitely one of the best gigs I've been to this year so far. What a treat to see Kim Deal live again. She is definitely still the coolest, I can't help but love her so, and I think everyone at the show tonight felt the same way.

I also got the setlist!