Thea Gilmore – Union Chapel, London; October 12th, 2023

Ever since going to Manchester for Thea Gilmore the previous year, I had been waiting to see her again and my chance came when she announced a London gig for October. Knowing it was a band gig and took place at Union Chapel was an added bonus. I had a great time at the show and met some nice people too

Got there way too early, because I misinterpreted the doors time for starting time. One other fan, J., was waiting already and we had some nice conversations, while more people only showed up about an hour after I’d arrived. By the time they finally did open the door, it was getting cold and we were happy to get in. As Thea had promised on Patreon she kept a few rows of seats for us Patrons, so we got to sit front row center. A friend of J.’s joined us and we talked some more until show start.

Liam Frost was supporting her and I really enjoyed his music. He was a Singer/songwriter and played some nice songs on guitar. It was perfect to pass the times. At the end he played a new song and joked that it would not mean anything, because they were all new to us. True. It was a nice one though and his 30 minutes or so stage time went by quickly.

Finally it was time for Thea herself and she walked out alone, using her loop station to start up the show. I remembered, how it hadn’t worked the way she wanted it to last year and smiled at the thought. It sounded good though . 😀 She started off mixing ‘This Girl is taking bets’ with the brand new ‘Nice Normal Woman’ – it worked perfectly.

She told us, she couldn’t remember the last time she had been at this venue and brought out the band, then played ‘Unravel me’ from the new album, that wasn’t even out yet. I immediately loved it. The album was supposed to come out earlier and had been pushed back, so these songs had not been heard by anyone but her Patrons yet. I’m the first to admit that I didn’t remember, which ones I should have known and it didn’t matter. It was great to hear them live then and there.

Thea introduced ‘The Chance’ as “the first love song I’ve written in a while, maybe the first love song I’ve ever written” – it was wonderful. The band sounded great and the acoustics at the church were good too. 🙂 She asked if anyone was there last time she played and quite a few people went “Yeah” so she told us she felt honored that they all came back, adding she had some good stories about the venue that she’d tell us later. The brilliant ‘Bones’ followed. I loved the driving drums and the general power of the song.

“I might need your help with this next one” she announced and wanted us to sing along to a song that was a hybrid of two different version of it. She was sure we’d know how to do it right and we’d know the song for sure, advising the lyrics were not as joyful as the tune might suggest. It was  Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls just wanna have fun’ and it was fantastic, especially with the sing along.

We learned that Thea was involved in a project called “21st century folk” where they paired up songwriters with people that had incredible stories to tell. She was paired up with Delyth Raffel, who lost her daughter Ellen to anaphylaxis and wanted her story to be told. And Thea told Ellen’s story beautifully. <3

Someone heckled, but I can’t remember what he said. She was quite amused. Introducing ‘Ride on’ she asked if we knew the feeling of meeting someone and wondering how we had not known this person our entire lives. It was a fast and powerful one. Nice! “I’ll play you one you will definitely know… it’s about friendship, specifically being there for someone”. And she dedicated it to “all the people who really need a hand” – it was ‘Rise’, one of my favorites. <3

The band left and Thea moved over to the piano . She asked if we were OK and when someone asked how she was she replied “good! A little overexcited” Someone yelled he loved her and she told him that he was a nice heckler and could stay. Then she spoke about the song she wrote the day she heard about the death of Joan Cox and how she related to everything Joan stood for and that we needed her voice of reason. This dedication made ‘The War’ even more special. <3

CCR’s ‘Bad Moon Rising’ was next and we learned that she has “a connection with zombies” and “the jolliest song about the apocalypse ever written” was used in a zombie movie by Zack Snyder, which she heard about through a friend. After that she started watching zombie series and movies. 😀 The song was fantastic and we got a good sing-along going too.

The band was back and she asked who was with her back in 2003/2004 and remembered the album ‘Avalanche’ – quite a few people did. She played the rocking ‘Mainstream’. I didn’t know the album, but then I knew I needed to. We heard a little more about the new album and introduced the band. we cheered loudly for each one of them. Next up was ‘The Bright Service’, also from the new album – it was brilliant and rather extended too. 🙂

They left the stage and we clapped and cheered and trampled our feet for them to come back. Thea thanked us and they played ‘Razor Valentine’, also from ‘Avalanche’. J. told me later that had been a special treat. We cheered for everyone in the band again as they left and got to hear s story about Union Chapel. Someone had walked in ans asked “does she swear” – when it was confirmed she would, he said he would not be coming, because he does not liked women swearing. “You picked the wrong woman then” Thea quipped and have us one final song with a sweary sing-along. ‘That’s love (motherfucker)’ – we did sing and it was so much fun. The show could not have ended any better!

Afterwards we went and talked to her. I got my ticket autographed and talked to Thea for a bit. I found out she had played in Germany years ago – before I knew her. well, I don’t mind coming back to the UK for her shows. It was such an enjoyable evening!

Setlist

This Girl Is Taking Bets/Nice Normal Woman
Unravel Me
The Chance
Bones
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper cover)
She Speaks in Colours
Ride On
Rise
The War
Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
Mainstream
The Bright Service

Razor Valentine
That’s Love