Travelling to London, always something of a lottery, has now become such a vehicular obstacle course that the expected 90-minute trip takes us nearly 4-hours. Not that Beth Hart isn’t worth the effort – she is, after all, one of the greatest blues / soul singers currently treading the boards – but it does mean we miss support act Wille and the Bandits, which is a shame, as we hold them in high regard.
Nevertheless, we arrive at the Hammersmith Apollo just in time for the closing notes of their set, to find the London audience in an unusually anticipatory mood. A far cry from the usual “entertain us” stance that so often prevails in the capital, it reflects the fact that Beth Hart harks back to a time when a genuine air of danger attended a live set. Not for her the well-drilled setlist, with pre-scripted remarks and choreographed instrument changes – a Beth Hart show is dependent on Beth Hart’s feelings on a given night, with the result that every performance is something genuinely unique, and tonight’s audience appear to recognise that they’re privileged to be along for the ride.
As we take our seats, the in-house PA blasts a number of classic 90s alt rock cuts – Rage Against The Machine and Faith No More standing out – before the lights dim and Queens Of The Stone Age’s Feelgood Hit Of The Summer blasts out, offering a cheeky nod to Beth’s addictive personality.
What follows is nothing short of mesmerising. Opening the show with the slinky jazz of If I Tell You I Love You, Beth paces the front of the stage, occasionally perching on the edge, letting out little trills of joy between verses. It makes it clear that today is a good day for Beth – “I’m so happy not to have cancelled” she beams – and tonight’s show reflects the sheer joie de vivre she is capable of exhibiting. Barely waiting for the ensuing applause to die down, she drives her band into Suga In My Bowl, a punishing hard rock number that nods to the Led Zeppelin cuts waiting in the wings. With Beth working the crowd (“let me hear you say “hey””, she commands), and the band taking obvious pleasure in laying down the rock solid foundation over which her astonishing voice roams free, it makes for one hell of a start to the evening.
Nor does Beth let the pace slip. The propulsive beat of Face Forward (from 2007’s 37 Days), pairs a stinging Keith Richards’ riff with Tina Turner attitude, the sheer weight of the performance making the Eventim Apollo quake in the face of it. It’s followed by the slower, bluesier, I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know (a cover of the Blood, Sweat & Tears track), which sees Beth roaming into the auditorium, followed (slightly nervously) by stage manager and husband Scott. It’s a mark of the electrifying connection that Beth has with her audience that the entire venue swivels to follow her every move, with audience members reaching out for a fleeting moment of contact with an artist who wears her heart firmly on her sleeve.
Having comprehensively rocked the Apollo, Beth takes to her piano for the next section, which contains a calmer set of songs, many of which pay tribute to loved ones – her late sister, Sharon, and her husband, Scott. Before we get to those, however, we get a trio of songs largely recorded, you feel, for Beth herself.
First up is Little Heartbreak Girl, a sweet ballad with a soaring crescendo that is pure Carly Simon in delivery. It’s followed by the bonkers Never Underestimate A Gal which, via a swirling carnival melody and whistled passages, relates the story of a predatory man receiving his comeuppance at the hands of a former victim. Dark though the topic may be, Beth asserts it’s primarily a joyful one, and you certainly can’t argue with her gleeful performance. Finally, the wonderful Bad Woman Blues rocks hard, with Beth joking “it’s just fun to be bad! I’m so old now, it’s amazing I’m not dead!” The stunning opener to the equally impressive War In My Mind album, it comes into its own in the live environment, with Beth truly inhabiting the song, and the audience responding in kind.
Things take a more personal turn as Beth pays tribute to Sharon with Skin, which opens with hulking great piano chords, before evolving into a song that is equal parts Tori Amos, Kate Bush, and Axl Rose. It eventually emerges as a stunning, stadium-sized piece filled with dynamic and drama – a heartfelt tribute to her beloved sister.
It’s followed by a song for husband Scotty – the sweet Drunk On Valentine – before the acoustics come out for God Bless You – another track for Sharon and one that the band have rarely played. Despite its relative scarcity, the song is handled well, although the presence of an acoustic guitar leads to some brief confusion as to where the set is headed next.
In fact, there is an acoustic section down the line but, before that, we get the set-piece rocker Trouble, which has Beth instructing the audience to “shake it off”, waving their hands in the air, before leading us through a lengthy middle section that has the entire venue singing as one. It’s moments like this, where the band are so clearly feeding off the energy of the crowd, that you realise just how symbiotic this relationship is and, with Beth clearly delighted at the audience response (not to mention the cries of “we love you, Beth” that pepper the evening), she tailors the performance accordingly.
With fog roiling from the stage and the temperature in the venue steadily raising, Beth cools things a touch as she takes to the piano for solo renditions of I Need A Hero (in which she charmingly forgets the words, pauses, and then restarts to reassuring cheers); and a cover of John Denver’s Country Road (Take Me Home). With the latter influenced by Beth’s love of karaoke, it has the whole audience singing along.
The band return for a semi-acoustic set which features some brilliant moments, including the addictive country shuffle of Wanna Be Big Bad Johnny Cash, stripped-down blues rocker title Fat Man, and the synth-led Wonderful World, before Beth practically has to be dragged off in the wake of expansive set closer Hold Me Through The Night. “We’ve only be playing for like an hour and thirty-five minutes” she complains.
Of course, Beth’s not planning on going anywhere just yet, and an encore sees her belt out a pair of Led Zeppelin classics, proving once and for all that, were Beth to go all out on a hard rock album, she’d wholly decimate the competition. With the set truly one this time, the applause is loud and sustained, before the crowd shuffle through the doors and back to a world that, for two hours or so, seemed wonderfully far away.
You could evince any number of reasons why Beth hart is so beloved. That she has raw talent is undeniable. However, this alone is not the reason for an audience feeling such a connection to an artist. That she is both vulnerable and empathetic yet possessed of an inner core that – to quote Stephen King – is like biting on tinfoil, is more to the point – perhaps because it has shaped both her voice and her performance so entirely. Able and willing to read the room, and entirely free of the ego that has derailed so many otherwise capable singers, Beth has trodden a unique path throughout her career; and her shows, delivered with edge-of-the-seat brio, are something truly special to behold. Tonight, she took us on a tour of her catalogue, her joy infectious and her performance unparalleled. She cannot return soon enough.
