First off, I’m not really going to talk about the opener Ratatat because they didn’t actually perform. What they did do was a pretty amateur DJ set using their iPods. It might have been interesting at a house party but come on - anybody can play tunes off of The Chronic.
Goldfrapp was amazing and it was great to see them play a slightly different set after having seen them at SXSW this year. They started the show playing some songs off of Felt Mountain that I wasn’t too familiar with but really showcased Allison Goldfrapp’s voice. Her singing on Utopia reminded me of The Diva from The Fifth Element, hitting some crazy highs and lows.
The biggest change would probably be the four dancers on stage, coming out for almost every other song starting with Train. Their moves were choreographed and the costumes were well designed and obviously appropriate for each song. For example, they wore large horse heads, dressed all in white and had horse manes attached to their backsides for Ride A White Horse. That particular performance, extended and very well choreographed was the highlight of the show.
The band was really tight and everyone hit the songs well but I would have to take acception with the vocals on Fly Me Away. The vocals were a tad sour but to their credit, it appeared they were having technical issues with their in-ear monitors. The issue appeared to be rectified shortly after that song.
The crowd was an interesting cross section of discoheads, hipsters, gay men and women. Moby was into the groove up in the VIP balcony. This is Goldfrapp’s last performance of the year and judging from their tour efforts this year - it might be the last one in the US for a while…
Setlist:
Utopia
Lovely Head
Tip Toe
Train
Koko
Slide in
You Never Know
Fly Me Away
Satin Chic
Beautiful
Ride a White Horse
Ooh La La
Black Cherry
Number One
We Are Glitter > Strict Machine