Ten years of seeing Marika Hackman live now. Awful scenes, the passing of time and all that. But here we are.
Hackman’s gone through a number of different guises, or genres, in that time, and she blends them throughout this setlist admirably. At times the loudness of I’m Not Where You Are or Boyfriend, at others the haunting quiet of Ophelia or a beautiful cover of Between The Bars by Elliott Smith.
Favourite audience member: the older gentleman stood next to me and Nia (always a delight to unexpectedly bump into a friend at a gig), dancing the hell out of the gig with what I can only describe as Rick Stein energy.
Least favourite audience members: get ready to cancel me, but the four audience members who had access seating who decided that the location and layout of said seating wasn’t good enough for them and just decided to drag the chairs way forward and spread way out. Don’t do that!
Gia Ford seems to be a good enough musician, and maybe there’s some good songs underneath it, but she deserves a less insipid backing band.