On Wednesday night, I saw Angel Olsen live in concert at The Forum in Bath. Aside from the fact that the last couple of years effectively put paid to any gig-going, mid-week nights out have long been a logistical challenge and this was no exception. But you don't need a spoiler alert to know that it was absolutely worth it.
This was my first visit to The Forum, despite living a few miles from Bath for much of my adult life and even working in the city centre for several years. I nearly saw John Grant there on Hallowe'en night in 2018 - I had the ticket and everything - but a work crisis meant that I spent the night doing a sleep-in shift less than a mile up the road. I managed to miss John Grant twice more at The Forum in 2020 and 2021 and I wrote about the sorry tale last year. I've also written about my failed attempt to see Manic Street Preachers at The Forum last October but at least that story had a much happier ending, with the ticket going to good use.
So, fifth time lucky, right? Well, first I had to get there. I was unable to book time off work before the gig and I had a packed day of what turned out to be ennervating meetings in Gloucester but I managed to get away around 5.30pm. The city and in fact most of the routes out of Gloucestershire are currently infested with roadworks and temporary traffic lights and I also had to make a pit stop at home, so things would be a little tight. However, I was confident that I could get to Bath and into The Forum in time for the show's (seemingly ridiculously early) start time at 7.30pm.
As a driver, I've got bad blood with Bath. When I was a 17 year old having driving lessons, I lived halfway between Bristol and Bath so it was always a toss up which way we would go (or how sadistic my ex-Army instructor was feeling) for a city centre drive. I found navigating Bath's one-way system a nightmare, trying to get in the right lane with 'Sarge' barking in my ear and tailgating frustrated drivers honking their horns behind me. It's a minor miracle I passed my driving test first time.
Having to travel through the city for work, I also came a cropper with the complex network of lanes and routes that had time-restricted access for buses and taxis, once getting a CCTV capture and a fine for driving through a road 10 minutes before it had opened up for general traffic.
So, on Wednesday night, I intentionally made my way to a car park that was a little further away from the venue but easy to access on my route into the city. It was pissing down with rain on the drive in but I figured it was worth it to avoid the headache of trying to drive into the heart of Bath.
I made good time and I got to the car park around 7.15pm, only to find that it was full with no sign of anyone returning to their car to free up a parking space. Thirty minutes and four car parks later - all full - I was losing the will to live and convinced that I was going to spend the rest of my night driving around the city in an endless, hellish loop whilst Angel and her band played a blinding set, said their goodbyes and headed off, deaf to the primal screams coming from a circling car a short distance away.
I should have noted my comment above as it literally was fifth time lucky when I finally found a car park with spaces. It was just after 8.00pm, I was about 10 minutes' walk from The Forum, the rain was still coming down, but I didn't care. I was going to get to the gig at last!
I try to see the support act(s) whenever I can so I was disappointed that I'd arrived part way through Tomberlin's set, especially as I'd never heard of her or her music before. Performing solo with an acoustic guitar, a clutch of songs that sound simple structurally speaking but sincere and heartfelt and between song banter that hovers between on-stage nervousness and slacker laidback, may not sound like much. However, Tomberlin was an engaging performer, drawing the audience in with at-times hushed vocals that would then unexpectedly soar skywards. I liked her a lot.
She closed the set with idkwntht, the acronymic title track of current album i don’t know who needs to hear this..., encouraging the initially reticent audience to participate in the song's circular call-and-response. A great finish to an impressive performance from Tomberlin and I was glad not to have missed it entirely.
A brief interval whilst the crew set up for the main show gave me a chance to properly look around at my surroundings. The Forum is a old-school theatre set up, with a stalls/standing area in front of the stage, which is where I was for the night. The venue wasn't full and I don't think that had changed by the time Angel Olsen took to the stage, but there was a healthy, lively buzz in the standing crowd at least.
The house lights went down and the band entered from stage right just after 9.00pm, a six-piece resplendent in coordinated colours: violin (red), cello (pink), bass (yellow), guitar (blue), keyboards (green), drums (purple); last but not least Angel herself (orange blouse, black jeans). Guitar strapped on, not a word spoken and straight into Dream Thing (from current album Big Time), itself eschewing a musical intro and opening with
I had a dream last night
We were having a fight
It lasted 25 years
It was a waste of fears
The album's title track is dispensed with immediately afterwards and two further songs from Big Time follow. In fact, the current album dominates the 14-song set, with 8 of the 10 songs bookending the 90 minute show. I've played Big Time lots this summer so I was very familiar with the songs and loved what I was hearing.
I'm a late comer to Angel Olsen's music, only starting with the digital box set Song Of The Lark And Other Far Memories last year, so the mid-section was interesting for me in featuring a clutch of songs from previous albums. Shut Up Kiss Me, a song from 2016's My Woman, was new to me, a rousing, urgent follow on from the two more downtempo songs that had preceded it. Next up was All Mirrors and Lark, the live performances echoing the richer, fuller sound of 2019's All Mirrors album rather than the stripped-back versions on 2020's companion album Whole New Mess. Then it was back to Big Time for another quartet of songs, ending with All The Good Times.
Like me, the audience didn't appear to be moving a great deal - a bit of swaying, maybe - captivated by Angel's performance. There wasn't a much in the way of between song chat with the audience and at one point, in a smiling nod to the hushed, pin-drop throng, Angel told us to "shut the fuck up". But the songs spoke for themselves, wrenching loss and heartbreak paired with a musical heft that added to the emotional weight of the songs. Angel alternated between guitar and keyboards and the band were really tight throughout.
I think the set was supposed to have closed with Chance, another selection from All Mirrors. However, hearing a shouted request from the audience and checking with her band, Angel finished off with Sister, from My Woman. I'd never heard the song before though it was clearly a fan favourite judging by the crowd's reaction, and it was a perfect end to the main set.
After a stage exit, raucous clapping, cheering and stamping of feet, the band came back on for a final encore. Angel is no stranger to a cover version: her take on More Than This by Roxy Music featured in the Angel Olsen selection I posted in July; last year's Aisles EP featured reworks of five 1980s pop classics. The song choice this time was Without You, originally written and recorded by Badfinger in 1970, though better known for Harry Nilsson's version a year later. Mariah Carey also bludgeoned the song into submission with her vocal gymnastics in the mid-1990s. Thankfully, Angel's more restrained/constrained performance of Without You sailed closer to the 1970s than the 1990s and was boosted by a choral duet with a returning Tomberlin. I'm not a huge fan of the song, but even I felt moved by it all.
Everyone left the stage for the final time, the house lights went up and the audience rapidly made their way to the exits. It was still raining on the drive home but I had Angel Olsen's music blasting from the speakers and all was well with the world.
You can find the setlist from the Bath gig here. As it's very heavy on songs from the current album, I decided to mix things up slightly for today's selection. I've cut the number of songs from Big Time from eight to four and I've inserted a few older songs that Angel performed on previous dates on the Big Time European tour. I've kept them more or less in the same 'mid-section' running order, so you get 12 songs in just under an hour. I've also included the recently released single version of Big Time, now a duet with Sturgill Simpson and providing that little push over the cliff into country, to great effect.
This was one of only three shows in England; Angel was in Scotland last night and Ireland tomorrow night before the Big Time tour resumes in the USA in January. Admittedly, I felt absolutely knackered the following day (and Friday too, if I'm honest) yet I wouldn't have missed this night for the world.
I might need to stick to weekend gigs in Bath in future, though. Getting there was a nightmare...!
1) Dream Thing (2022)
2) Big Time (Single Version ft. Sturgill Simpson) (2022)
3) Shut Up Kiss Me (2016)
4) Forgiven/Forgotten (2014)
5) Give It Up (2016)
6) All Mirrors (Album Version) (2019)
7) Not Gonna Kill You (2016)
8) Lark (Album Version) (2019)
9) Go Home (2022)
10) All The Good Times (2022)
11) Chance (Album Version) (2019)
12) Sister (2016)
2014: Burn Your Fire For No Witness: 4
2016: My Woman: 3, 5, 7, 12
2019: All Mirrors: 6, 8, 11
2022: Big Time: 1, 9, 10
2022: Big Time EP: 2
A Dream Last Night (54:45)
