Tanya at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Belgium November 26, 1997
Mat reports:
Never let it be said that I am not a true Tanya fan! Last night I travelled all the way to Brussels, alone, wandered the streets and the underground all to see Tanya play. I managed to get there by 9.00 after an extremely hectic day, and lucky I did because Tanya came on stage about 15 minutes later. I won't bother with a set list because it wasn't radically different to the other shows (no Sweet Ride alas) but generally I was very impressed. The first thing that struck me was how loud the vocals were in the mix. Tanya has incredible confidence in her singing now, and justifiably so. The older numbers seemed to rock out more than when Belly played them, which is strange because in general I think her sound is moving more in the other direction. One interesting story that I don't remember being posted to the list (but which probably has been): apparently "Bury My Heart" is about Mary Shelley (Tanya's favourite writer apparently). When her husband Percy died, Mary wanted to bury the body in a garden where they'd hung out, partied and generally lived there debauched artistic lifestyles with the likes of Byron "and all those perverts" as Tanya put it. Percy's family, however, insisted he be buried in thje family vault. Compromise was struck whereby the famaily got the body and Mary got the heart.."Kind of sick, but sort of beautiful too" as Tanya put it. Just one other point, I know already but have kind of forgotten - what is the history on Tanya's band? Dean and David I know, but Rich and Elizabeth I've forgotten where they came from. ANy info would be appreciated. Thanks for reading,
- your Belgian correspondent, Mat