Standing In the Way of Control

Artist: The Gossip
Released: 2006

The Gossip live & in person:

1. Mothers’ Day 2000, Grog Shop (Old)
Opening for Sleater-Kinney (and thus being involved in the “Greatest Concert I’ve Ever Witnessed,” which is different than the “Greatest Performance I’ve Ever Witnessed), the band consists of a lead singer, a guitarist eating an ice cream popsicle, a drummer, and two “dancers,” one of whom looks like the woman who stole Rachel’s washing machine at the laundromat in an early “Friends” episode. Twenty seconds into their first song, Beth Ditto (the lead singer) stops the song, complains about the heat at the club, and then proceeds to take her shirt off and start over again. The band tears through ten songs in about fifteen minutes.

2. June 2001, Grog Shop (Old)
The band returns sans dancers and plays a similar, but lengthier set. The songs still clock in at 1:30, but the concluding “We Need a Revolution” lasts for nearly ten minutes. Ditto exhorts all the “queers and queens” to start the revolution. Although this technically excludes me, the six Straub’s I’ve had put me right in the thick of the sing-a-long.

3. July 2004, Grog Shop (New)
Performing at one of the first shows at the newly constructed Grog Shop, the Gossip plays material from its new, and somewhat more complex, album. The giant A/C unit at the center of the club alleviates any potential heat problems.

4. September 2005, Grog Shop (New) Playing tracks from the soon-to-be-released Standing In the Way of Control, the Gossip summon their inner Donna Summer and get discotastic for half of the show, reflecting the band’s new direction. There’s also enough garage rock to keep the faithful happy.