Kate Tempest at Rough Trade NYC (March 25, 2015)
All photos by Rachel Barrish
UK spoken word/rapper/poet extraordinaire, Kate Tempest joined us in Brooklyn Wednesday night at Rough Trade NYC. She walked on to stage looking completely nonchalant, like any other person you would see walking down the street and not take a second glance at. In fact, I saw her standing in the audience prior to her performance and didn’t realize at first that was her. Later she mhe made that fact known as she spoke out numbers from her 2014 debut album Everybody Down.
What I found the most interesting after the night was over, was that one of the opening acts, New York’s Lightning Bug, had a plethora of instruments and synthesizers and pedals all designed to create a unique sound. There was such a strong focus on the music and the instrumentation, and that was all you had to rely on. Don’t get me wrong, they sounded great, a very progressive shoegaze vibe that slowly picked up into harder rock from time to time.
Meanwhile, Kate’s performance was contradicting. It was all about the words. Her songs are completely transparent. She tells stories of her life and the people she has met, love, death, humanity, and so on. She spoke and interacted with the audience on such a personal level, making sure all of us knew that we should not be afraid. She reminded us that we all have ideas, the only difference between artists and everyone else, is that they have finished the idea for our consumption.
Her lyrics explode off the stage, “I can’t take this stench anymore / Nothing is real /Nothing is trying to even pretend that it is” from one of her new singles “Bad Place for a Good Time”. Performing alongside her she had a back up vocalist, a drummer working only with a drum pad, and the man who produced her album, Dan Carey, on synths.
If you haven’t heard of her yet, now is the time. Make sure you check out Kate Tempest next time she rolls through your neighborhood.
Find photos below, all taken by Rachel Barrish
Lightning Bug:
