Kristen Hersh Electric Trio, Band on the Wall. 28th April 2022

I’m feeling a little hungover this evening after a big night last night, so I need something a bit soothing. Fred Abong warming up for Kristen Hersh in Band on the Wall is perfect. A velvety voice singing lush lazy lyrics with an acoustic, it’s really nice and Band on the Wall is always a lovely place to be. Abong is back shortly to play bass as Hersh takes to the stage with her ‘electric trio’ to blast through a career spanning set of songs, some solo, some 50 Foot Wave and a whole lot of Throwing Muses. The peace doesn’t last long but as they smash through ‘Sunray Venus’ my head starts to hurt a little less. There’s a lot of years on some of these songs, but they still sound great and Hersh sounds brilliant. That deep tone, a powerful shriek often not far away matches the way she plays guitar. Don’t let the small stature and floral summer dress fool you, Hersh is a powerhouse. The wonderfully grungy ‘Dark Blue’ sounds awesome, Hersh shredding as Abong and drummer Rob lay down a ridiculously infectious rhythm. They do that all night to be fair and look to be having a great time doing it, especially Rob. They’re a proper tight band. Things slow down for ‘Maria Laguna’ and as they effortlessly let it drift into ‘Snake Face’, the sway takes over the crowd as we’re all gently swept up. To step things up again they rip into ‘Bright Yellow Gun’ which still sounds like a monster. The warm tone of Hersh’s guitar, Rob’s scattergun drum fills, it’s the little poison that we all need. ‘Staring Into the Sun’ is off the latest 50 Foot Wave record and is probably the youngest song in the set. Although I’m guessing a lot of the audience don’t know it well, it gets huge applause and I’m definitely going to give a few 50 Foot Wave records a spin again. The slightly sultry and funky ‘Crooked’ sounds gorgeous before Rob and Fred swap places to bring things to a close with ‘Shark’. It’s a cracking gig, just what I needed and I feel a hundred times better than when I came in. The power of music.