Whilst not at Glastonbury we did get into Portishead singer Beth Gibbons Glastonbury warm-up show!

You know you are at a special gig when you rock up 20 minutes before the doors open and find yourself waaaay down the queue. We are not used to this, usually comfortably getting a spot of our choice at the front. It is also a special gig when there are people from all over Europe who have come over just to see it. You can understand why though, appearances from Beth Gibbons are rarer than gold dust. She did a handful in the UK last year to support her brilliant album Lives Outgrown, all in venues significantly smaller than she could fill. This year, it is her performance at Glastonbury that has got her onto the stage here, as a warmup ahead of a run of festival dates. She is as enigmatic and artistic as Kate Bush, and as prone to disappearing for long periods of time. Though unlike Bush she is a much quieter presence when performing, preferring to let her singing do the talking for her.

There is a fair bit of drama before the gig even begins. Just as the support act is about to come on a gentleman in his 50s, on the barrier just in front of me, slumps over the railing. I stick my knee out to support him and the people on each side help to bring him down to the floor and we urgently shout for security. Medical assistance is prompt and it is clear that dehydration on a hot day is the main issue. He is able to walk off with assistance. It is one of the odder ways I have ended up with a space on the barrier at a gig.

Seamus Fogarty

Support comes from Seamus Fogarty. He is an Irish singer-songwriter who is based in London. Whilst he has a following, and a couple of tracks raise a slight giggle, this is a rare occurrence where we do not really find ourselves connecting with the support act.

Beth Gibbons

There is an absolute buzz in the air well before she has even come on stage. I don’t think I had felt such a sense of anticipation at a gig since watching Fat Dog. When she does appear, flanked by seven musicians, it is straight down to business. She starts with the gorgeous and swirling album opener, ‘Tell Me Who You Are Today.’ It is utterly mesmerizing.

She has assembled an exceptional band around her. She has a truly impressive multi-instrumentalist surrounded by instruments who looks like he has wondered in from Doctor Strange’s Kamar-Taj. He is at multiple things on most tracks bringing many of the sound layers to life. There is a vibraphone, various gongs, a flute, a tenor and a baritone saxophone and all sorts of other tricks. Under the vibraphone are weighted bags filled with coins or metal discs, operated by a foot pedal that gives a very precise clink for certain tracks. There is a violinist who switches to something like a recorder, another violinist who switches to guitar on different tracks.

The third song is the exquisite ‘Floating on a Moment.’ My favourite single released last year. When she isn’t singing, Gibbons tends to walk back towards the keyboard player set up behind her and stand facing him. There is an absolute dick in the audience, further back, who several times shouts out, “We’re over here Beth!” When someone who clearly finds performing hard to the point of uncomfortable, I don’t for the life of me know why you would be that rude and conceited. She has graced us with her presence, everything else can be on her terms. What a horribly unbearable individual you must have to be to not be able to acknowledge the humanity of another.

We get every track from Lives Outgrown at different points. There are two from her 2002 collaboration with Rustin Man (Out of Season), ‘Mysteries’ and ‘Tom The Model.’ The Sublime ‘Mysteries’ goes straight into another highlight of Lives Outgrown, ‘Lost Changes.’ It is a toss-up between which carries the biggest emotional punch, the delightful string instruments or Gibbons lived in vocals. She has always been an emotive singer but at this stage of her life she can convey the most powerful ideas in a few phrases, her voice raw truth and honesty.

About half-way through she awkwardly comes to the microphone to thank us for coming. She says a bit more, but the audience are still giving thunderous applause for the previous track and her words are lost. She is clearly thankful for the positive audience response, and she clearly still loves creating and performing as otherwise there would not be a fantastic new album or an appearance here tonight. Yet, there is clearly a cost to performing, an uncomfortableness that can never truly shift. Don’t go expecting a new Portishead album anytime soon.

The main set ends on album closer ‘Whispering Love.’ A few keyboard strokes of the first encore track produces an enormous roar as it reveals itself as Portishead’s ‘Roads.’ It is an odd one. So many have clearly come here in the hope she would sing some of their old favourites, and they are entitled to. I just want to scream out that the new album is as good as, maybe even better than anything Portishead produced. Every track she performed deserved this level of rapture. ‘Roads’ followed by ‘Glory Box’ is simply a bonus. Watching her perform ‘Glory Box’ is fascinating as she closes her eyes and contorts her face into a sort of smile to produce the controlled performance and feelings. The lead guitarist equally rises to the occasion, doing absolute justice to Adrian Utley’s controlled demolition of a solo that explodes out of the back end.

Finally, we get another highlight of Lives Outgrown, ‘Reaching Out.’ It stands up well against two absolute classics of the 90s music scene. At the end Gibbons thanks us for coming again before assembling the band for a proper bow. The affection from the audience is enormous and all on the stage are clearly touched. Those at Glastonbury are in for a treat the following day.