Cate Le Bon: “Her striking looks suggested both Joan of Arc and David Bowie in his Thin White Duke phase”. All pictures: Paul Rhodes
SO MUCH more than just a concert. To spend time in the company of Cate Le Bon is to enter into her world. The whole performance brooks no objection. Small talk is left at the dinner table.
Le Bon inhabits her music fully, supported by the ablest of bands. As a tight six-piece they were able to bring out the depths and ensure nothing was sacrificed to the road.
This Cardiff mothership also contains Stephen Black (aka Sweet Baboo – a wonderful headliner in his own right at this venue in 2023) and H Hawkline, who should now be the Crescent’s most wanted man after his stellar opening set.
Le Bon is the undoubted matriarch. Her iconic, striking looks suggested both Joan of Arc and David Bowie in his Thin White Duke phase.
Sweet Baboo (Stephen Black) performing in Cate Le Bon’s band at The Crescent
The set was a well-judged mix of old and leaning more on the new. Le Bon is the critics’ darling for her undaunted creativity.
Her new album was written in the aftermath of a significant break-up. Just because an album is about heartbreak shouldn’t automatically make it a classic however. Like its creator, Michelangelo Dying remains elusive. Diaphanous and beautiful for sure, as an album it’s rather unknowable.
The middle part of the 90-minute set dragged with French Boys particularly disappointing. The elegant, Roxy-like Heaven Is No Feeling brought it back and set us on track to the excellent finale. Le Bon doesn’t really have bangers in the traditional sense, but Mothers Of Riches and Harbour were slinky slices of better-than-pop.
H Hawkline: “As good an opening set as you are likely to hear”
H Hawkline was accompanied, as is his wont, by a reel-to-reel tape recorder. His was as good an opening set as you are likely to hear.
After the loss of his mother, he poured himself into Milk For Flowers (the best album of 2023). His guitar playing, certainly helped by those long fingers was so sure, and his singing so able, that he swept us all up.
The riff on Suppression Street was compelling. Empty Room, the Cold Cold Heart of the record, reduced the crowd to awed silence and more than a few to tears.
Cate Le Bon’s drummer Stella Mozgawa
Hawkline appears to be at a different point on the arc to Le Bon. His two new songs suggest he’s in a happier place. Song 3 bodes well for his new record, showing his mastery for creating a sound that draws on the best of the past filtered through his very leftfield view. It even featured Ringo Starr, beamed in via AI.
While it’s a shame we got no glimpses behind the veil from either Hawkline or Le Bon, what we missed in terms of extra connection to them as performers, we gained in intensity and the vitality they brought to their performances.
Review by Paul Rhodes
Cate Le Bon’s band members: Euan Hinshelwood, saxophone and guitar; Stella Mozgawa, drums; Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo), keyboards, guitars, percussion and saxophone; Paul Jones, keyboards and occasional saxophone, and Toko Yasuda, bass.
Euan Hinshelwood on saxophone in Cate le Bon’s set at The Crescent
Bass player Toko Yasuda playing at The Crescent
Paul Jones at The Crescent on October 14