A decade since their last visit to The Bodega, an awful lot has changed for Beth Jeans Houghton (Du Blonde). With the multi-talented Geordie artist now managing and releasing music under their own label Daemon TV, it was this DIY spirit that drove well-received fourth album, Sniff More Gritty, released in November last year. Returning to Nottingham with that album in tow, we went along to check out Beth’s sold-out show and their first one in the city since 2015…
We arrive at The Bodega just as tonight’s support act bigfatbig are taking to the stage. After the Sunderland pop-punk outfit bring the energy for opening trio Reason/Season, Shut Up and Fine, they reveal their bassist Eddie had smashed his wrist against a wall earlier in the day and was now having to play through the pain.
“I’m having an awful time, so if you could all have a good time it would really help!” he reveals before continuing to power through. It nicely sets up an outstanding cover of Sheryl Crow’s If It Makes You Happy, which gets the first big singalong of the evening.
Afterwards, vocalist Robyn Walker reveals that she has been working during the days while on tour, highlighting the reality for a lot of small bands right now in the fact that many still hold down regular day jobs, too. Nothing is then dedicated to not enjoying going to work, while Love Letters conversely is about the joy of touring. After impressing further with Inbetween and Don’t Wanna Be Sad, the band conclude their short but sweet 30-minute set.
“We’ll see you back out here for Du Blonde’s set!” says Robyn Walker, revealing they are doing double duty tonight as Beth’s backing band.
After a quick break, the soothing sounds of Ronan Keating’s When You Say Nothing At All ring around The Bodega to mark bigfatbig returning to the stage, but this time accompanied by guitarist Cortney Dixon and tonight’s headliner, Du Blonde. The pair seem to be competing over who can have the most fabulous hair tonight, with Cortney rocking a cool 80s-style glam-rock perm while Beth sports some wild braided ponytails. As impressive as the hair and outfits are though, the music is even more so, with opener Perfect getting the crowd singing along early thanks to its catchy and quirky chorus. It’s also worth shouting out warrior bassist Eddie from bigfatbig who is - incredibly - back out for his second set of the night, despite the sore/possibly broken wrist!
After Beth publicly sorts out a problematic wedgie after Angel, hilariously giving their drummer an eye-full in the process, it’s then straight into more Sniff More Gritty cuts in the shape of Dollar Coffee and Solitary Individual, which both get the place rocking.
“Usually when I write a song I’ll fill the lyrics in with gobbledygook then change them later - but for this one I just left them. So don’t read into it, as it means f**k all!” reveals Beth, giving insight into their writing process before getting the crowd to clap along to the song in question - Lucky.
Beth asks the crowd if anyone has been on any bad dates recently, which sadly returns little affirmative response from the band or crowd, suggesting they might be in isolation on that one. Undeterred, Beth and the band then deliver one of the highlights of the whole set with Yesterday, generating another big singalong.
After introducing the band, Beth then shouts out Ezra Furman before a performance of their collaboration, I’m Glad That We Broke Up. Without completely spoiling the surprise, if you’re heading to Bearded Theory in May and are a fan of both Beth and Ezra, we’d strongly suggest you go and catch Beth’s set there!
The band leave the stage, leaving just Beth alone with their acoustic guitar. As they tune the guitar, Beth’s involuntary tics start to come to the fore, leading them to briefly talk about living with Tourette’s Syndrome.
“One in 100 people have it – which is the same as gingers!” they say, making light of the condition that is clearly a heavy burden to carry. It only increases the huge respect for Beth in the room, with cheers and applause sent from the crowd in support. It’s then into an utterly stunning solo acoustic performance of Mind Is On My Mind, which Beth reveals was co-written by Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands while the pair were on a road trip together. Without a doubt, one of the most special moments of the night.
With the acoustic portion over, the band return to the stage with Beth politely and hilariously asking: “Anybody have a wee?” After getting a couple of nods from their bandmates, it’s into the final stretch of the set, starting with Blame.
“I played here years ago and let me tell you – I’m so much happier now,” reveals Beth, the packed crowd cheering in response.
Metal Detector sees Cortney Dixon light up the stage with a scintillating guitar solo, before the band’s performance of Andy Bell collaboration All The Way also goes down a storm.
Due to the strict curfew there’s no encore tonight; instead the band stay on stage for a triumphant final duo of Radio Jesus and TV Star, with both tracks getting the biggest reception of the whole night.
A true inspiration and a testament that you don’t need a big record label to be a successful artist in 2025, Du Blonde - with plenty of help from bigfatbig - delivered a truly memorable Friday evening at The Bodega. Here’s hoping it’s not another 10 years before Beth’s next Nottingham show!
Du Blonde performed at The Bodega on 31st January 2025, with support from bigfatbig
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