GOSSIP. Knows Best.

Gossip
Guests: Magic Mouth, Bonnie Montgomery
The Showbox Theatre
Seattle
October 9th, 2012

This is long overdue, apologies.

My friend Dan and I drove down from Vancouver to see GOSSIP.
I was obsessed with "Standing in the Way of Control" in High School and would dance to "Listen Up" in my room alone. I remember watching their video for that song and wanting to join in on the dance party.

We arrived at The Showbox while the opener was playing. Beth Montgomery a unique folk-blues band accompanied by Nathan Howdeshell on guitar. That was particularly exciting for me. I had placed Hannah Blilie, Nathan Howdeshell and Beth Ditto on gloriously unreachable platforms and regarded them as leaders in developing my sense of interests. I looked to Gossip to solve by teen angst and guide my liberal beliefs. Beth joined the band to sing a song and my inner high school love of Gossip exploded. I wanted to reach them with my love as much as they have reached me with their music.
The second opener was Magic Mouth and they were phenomenal. They are a funk-driven blues-inspired band with a fierce combination of uniqueness, nerve and talent. I danced my socks off to them.

I had noticed almost immediately that the crowd was strange. It was an all ages show and I wasn't used to being around so many young people at a show.
While the opener was playing we went and got drinks. Out of the corner of my eye at the bar, I saw Hannah Blilie with her girlfriend enjoying the show. It was a really exciting moment for me to see someone I had obsessively admired just a few feet from me. It was memorable and really set up the night to be a great one.

Once Gossip entered the stage the audience erupted with cheers
I loved the show with all of my nostalgia.
Beth's bluesy and strong voice, Hannah's persistent and driven drum kicks, Nathan's signature guitar solos and Nick's blues driven bass lines all filled the room with an enormous sound.
Beth was animated and hilariously interactive. Nathan was shy and focused on his playing. I had my eyes glued on Hannah most of the time because I had developed a slight fascination with the handsome drummer.

Men in Love drove the audience wild. I sang along to every word and rejoiced in the celebration of love. Yr Mangled Heart is a classic favourite and sent the audience into disarray. We were a fury of excited happy energy and pettiness apparently. Just arms reach away from me two audience members were in an argument after one of them tried to push past the other. Some people do not understand concert etiquette. The way you maneuver yourself from the back of the audience to the front of stage is a strategic art form. You do it as you dance. This argument turned into a physical fight that involved hair pulling, nail clawing and saliva spitting. The end result was a massive sway in energy and furious pushing.

That aside, the two girls who stood beside me did just that for the entire concert. They stood. They didn't dance, neither did they seem very happy nor excited that Gossip were just a few feet from them. I didn't like this type of energy at all. It drained me and effected how I wanted to dance to Gossip. Regardless of others peoples questionable concert etiquette I danced to my whole-hearts content.

They played Standing in the Way of Control, Heavy Cross and a Tina Turner Cover "What's Love Got To Do With It" = Memorable.

I loved this show and will always think back to this trip to Seattle with my best friend.

I wish though that the sound was louder, that the audience was wilder and that Gossip would emit the same punk angst energy that they did on their earlier records.

Nonetheless, I was not disappointed. This show will be one the memorable ones of 2012.