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King’s Place was an impressive and prestigious venue for the launch of Hattie Webb’s new E.P. “The Mouth of the Sea”. The receptionists were helpful and pleasant, as were the three smiling ladies downstairs, selling Hattie’s merchandise. Mum and dad Webb were also close at hand to welcome friends and fans alike. Copies of the five-track E.P. were available with a choice of three different covers, showing Hattie sitting discreetly naked on a rock with her harp, surrounded by sea and sky. Posters and postcards were also available, either individually or in a bundle with the CDs, at a special price. The show had completely sold out, and apparently could have sold out twice over.

Accompanying Hattie were Pedro Segundo on percussion, James McVinney on piano and a young bass player from the band Hazey Jane. After the three had taken their places onstage, the show opened with some special effects. There was dry ice rising from the stage, which was lit by blue and rose coloured lights, sounds of the sea emerged from the surrounding speakers along with a poetic spoken voice-over by Hattie. Then, she took to the stage and climbed onto the podium at the back where she danced exotically, as she sung the opening song “Coming Up Roses”. She was wearing a stunning blue dress to which she later said she had made some alterations. It was ankle length, but cut away at the front to reveal her legs, and open at the back as far as her waist. To complete the “Neptunian” effect, she wore turquoise coloured earrings and blue eye-liner.

Hattie played most of her songs on the large harp placed at the front of the stage. At times she sensually stroked the harp strings, and at other times plucked them passionately. Otherwise, she played her smaller harp, and for one song (the beautiful ballad “Love Awhile”) she hand-held the mike. Her performance was very engaging, and included some humorous personal anecdotes.

The full set list was as follows (E.P. tracks marked with asterisk):
Coming Up Roses
Intimate Conversation*
Jeans
As Long as we’re Dancing*
To the Bone
House of the Rising Sun (solo)
Newton’s Law*
Call My Name
Rhythm of the Night*
Nobody Could
Natalie
Love Awhile
Arithmetic
River*
plus an encore “You Can Close Your Eyes” (the James Taylor song, sung solo).

After the show, Hattie signed merchandise and met fans, In conclusion, she gave an outstanding performance, which was undoubtedly her finest to date. Leonard Cohen recently summarized Hattie perfectly when he described her as "a pilgrim, deeply committed and highly trained, on her own path to perfection".

I managed to get a seat in the front row at Hattie's concert, and sitting next to me were Tom Johnson, who I previously met at a Webb Sister's gig, and his two talented daughters Maisie and Alice (15 & 13 respectively). They're self-taught musically, and I particularly like this song by them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2drDybcFe8

It was great to finally meet you, John, and I entirely echo your review, which captures the evening perfectly. I thought it was a superb performance by Hattie - she is a force of nature. Her band were very good too, and I was particularly struck by the performance of Pedro Segundo, who was excellent.

On a different note, thank you so much for your kind comments about my daughters and their music. They have been heavily influenced by The Webb Sisters (and in fact Maisie was with me, then aged 9, when I was fortunate enough to meet Leonard in 2010, as described in a previous post, some years ago now) and Hattie was incredibly kind in talking to them after the show.

But I digress. A wonderful concert from Hattie.

Tom

Here's a video of Hattie's song "Natalie" from another recent concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3hQCGzguos

"As Long As We're Dancing" from the King's Place concert (Shared on Hattie's Facebook page today):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCMGND7lHp8