The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Chantal Claret at Barfly

Chantal Claret at Barfly | Live review
3 July 2014
Francesca Laidlaw
Avatar
Shot by Erol Birsen
Avatar
Francesca Laidlaw Shot by Erol Birsen
3 July 2014

Hosted in the Barfly in Camden, and tucked away in the dimly-lit top room of the venue with her closest fans in attendance, Chantal Claret gave a performance as full-bodied and atmospherically intoxicating as her tipple of a namesake.

Playful and sassy, her stage presence was either genuinely kooky and at ease, or that of a extremely skilled entertainer. Probably both, but either way, she had the audience  in the palm of her hand right from the beginning of her set with Secret War, where she sat on the floor in the middle of the crowd.

Audience involvement was a large part of the set, lending the already intimate room familiarity – Thee Headcoatees song Davy Crockett was given a worthy cover with half the lyrics roared out by the entire room, and the “filler chat” seeming improvised and breathless with adrenaline. She performed Jailbait and I Look Good to whistles and cheers, with several characteristically quirky stage props, including a furry-tailed hat and a polaroid camera, with which she took a portrait of the audience and several individual photographs after the set as she sat on the edge of the stage seeming no worse the wear from her energetic hour-long performance.

A healthy blend of old releases, new material and covers, her skills as a songwriter and lyricist are a little satirical and jam-packed with references to other artists – notably the Stones song Brown Sugar being referenced in Jailbait among others. Her assurance to the audience that the “new song that has never, ever been played before” was going to be word perfect was bolstered with a throwaway reference to quantum physics, which won her several slow nods from the beer holding blokes sticking to the back of the room away from the gaggle of lovestruck girls hugging the stage.

Intelligent, funny, undeniably sexy with the rarest of all qualities in many current musicians of her genre thrown in for good measure, Claret a beautiful voice that sounds, if possible, even better live than it does on her recorded albums. As she sang herself, with just the right balance of attitude and irony thrown in, “you want to get with me, … ’cause hey, I look good”. And sounds good, more’s the better.

★★★★★

Francesca Laidlaw
Photos: Erol Birsen

For further information and future events visit Chantal Claret’s website here.

Watch the video for Bite Your Tongue here:

Related Itemsbarflycamdenchantal claretlive musicreview

More in Live music

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Andrea Bocelli at Teatro Regio di Parma Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Foy Vance: Hope in the Highlands

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Liam Gallagher: Down by the River Thames

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Blossoms at Brixton Academy

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Tammy | Movie review
A First World Problem at Theatre503 | Theatre review