Little Boots (acoustic), The Bathhouse Bar, Liverpool Street, London (18/8/09)

This historic underground venue was the setting for the talented Victoria Hesketh, better known as Little Boots’ unscheduled intimate gig.

In an unusual move for an artist so seemingly reliant on the power-pop driven magic of the various synthesizers library - this was billed as an acoustic gig and with the slight exception of the Japanese portable drum machine, known as the Tenori-on, Boots did indeed only have the grand old piano for company.

A crowd of no more than 100 selected family, media and supporters gathered around the centrepiece, erupted as the confident chart sensation appeared in her finest party number, ready to attempt the unprecedented move. First up came smash hit, ‘New in Town’, stripped down to its very core with just a simple piano line replacing the more familiar delayed electro vibes. The Tenori-on, one of Boots’ favourite accomplices, providing the drum beats as she sang solemnly and powerfully over it.

Venue capacity - 200+

Label - Atlantic

Style - Trance synth pop

Little Boots’ MySpace

Review of ‘Hands’ (debut record)

In person, there is an evident confidence about Hesketh, though her commentaries between songs were slightly less so and quite difficult to interpret, even standing 6 feet away. She did however get across that there would be a lot of cover versions in the set, something she is famous for doing and posting on YouTube. The ones we were treated to included a stellar cover of Blur’s ‘In the End’, dedicated to “the biggest Blur fan ever”. The sweet simplicity of the original song and her angelic interpretation meant that this one went down very well, in a somewhat shy audience.

Sadly her cover of Kate Bush classic, ‘Running Up that Hill’ wasn’t quite as successful. Using the Tenori-on to create an odd almost glass-like beat, to replicate Bush’s, was creative enough, but (as she acknowledged), the track has been covered numerously and more successfully by other artists.

Still her version of current single, ‘Remedy’ actually sounded better than RedOne’s heavily produced single cut that’s currently sitting in record shops. Somehow, stripping the tune down, allowed Hesketh to have more of a command of the song and her confidence (and subsequent performance) was evident for all to enjoy.

In a relatively short set (considering she didn’t take the stage until long after her billed time), Boots played a version of ‘Stuck on Repeat’ and also did an encore of one of her old YouTube covers, which didn’t really warrant a name-check as she forgot the words to it half way through.

Still, in what was a high-pressure gig, she took a chance and carried it off reasonably successfully. The purists though wouldn’t be too happy at her inclusion of the Tenori-on, ironic as the last words she sung of the forgotten tune were “we’re using too much technology.” Quite. 6/10 CM