Hey there listees! Just writing to tell about my exquisite time I had at BOTH Dot Allison shows! Heavenly indeed! First of all the venue, the Watershed is a gorgeous marvel built over a pond near our state Art Gallery (itself an old and beautiful place). It was constructed just for the Festival of Perth and has all these cool gigantic water pipes with tv screens fitted on them so it looks like people are swimming inside the pipes. Cool huh? They have a nice light show too. The ambiance is laidback and really chilled out-perfect for a Dot Allison show! Only problem was the number of pretentious old farts who attended- most of whom had never heard of Dot (mostly just leftover from watching the previous band -sophisto jazzy Paris Combo) and a lot of whom made noise during her set-BOO! Pete Wiggs from the legendary Saint Etienne did the warm-up and on the first night, he played a new St Et song! The host of the show was obviously a big Dot fan since her days of One Dove, which was very refreshing to see. When she came on, I was amazed that she was so small- she seems so statuesque in her photos! She was wearing a frayed denim skirt and a "porn star" singlet. She was complimented by James Nesbitt on guitar and err someone on keyboards whose name escapes me. From the minute she launched into "Mo Pop" I could tell we were in for something very special indeed. The set she played was way too short-40 minutes and an encore but was transcendental and just so so GORGEOUS! She played two new songs! "Know Glow" (which was the song I didn't know from her KCRW session) and "Strung Out" (which unfortunately I didn't record for some reason-bugger!) and covered a Neil Young song "I believe in you"-all absolutely divine and which bodes very well for her second album. "Did I Imagine You" and "Tomorrow Never Comes" were of course meltingly lovely and "Breakdown" (one of my favourite singles of ALL time) still manages to break hearts so effortlessly after all these years. also took pics of Dot and Pete-hope they turn out well. Afterwards the tables were cleared and the space was made into a dancefloor. Pete Wiggs came on again to play a fantastic set of rare groove, sixties pop and old skool soul and disco. It was really refreshing to hear such music played- mostly it either really bad kitschy 70's-80's stuff (which you get at practically every medical function:() or big beat. He got quite a crowd going- which was also very heartening to see. I know I was dancing up a storm! Didn't get to meet Dot on the first night- but got my "Tomorrow Never Comes" 7inch, "Afterglow" and "Morning Dove White" autographed by her. Also got a signed set list from her-woohoo! The second night was if you can believe it-even more ethereal and delicately beautiful. It's really amazing to think that someone who was involved with all of techno's big movers and shakers (Andy Weatherall, Richard Fearless, err William Orbit etc) could do acoustic so well. This time bootlegged every song except yet again "Strung Out" (uurrgh!) she played exactly the same set of songs but in a different order. But when songs are as crystal perfect as them, who's complaining? On the first night when she came out for an encore she joked that it would be an encore "in the truest sense of the word" and played "strung out" again! Also met a fellow huge Dot fan from England, Mac. Saw him on the first night and again on the second. Guess what???:) Dot came out with her manager and mingled with the crowd! Mac had on his mobile phone, his best mate from England whom Dot promptly spoke to!!! Isn't that just so sweet?:) got her to sign my "mo pop" and "breakdown" singles and her manager was very impressed at how I got a hold of these rare items. (imagine their amazement at how someone from Perth got hold of the "TNC" single!) and guess what ? Dot gave me a kiss on the cheeks! WOOHOO again! don't know how a night could get more perfect than that. I sorta wished I took a pic with her but didn't know if it would be too cheesy-do you think it would have been too cheesy??? Ah well did take another photo of her anyway on stage. Yet again thought of good questions to ask her afterwards- why does this always happen to me? Really wanted to ask about the aborted second album (One Dove) and what direction her new stuff is taking. Well manager gave her email addy and hopefully thru her can get my questions sorted out! Wanted to interview her for friend's fanzine but didn't get down to organizing it. (how would one organize it?) hopefully can conduct internet interview then-wish me luck:) Dot said she hoped to return with her five-piece for the full Dot Allison experience-yay! Pete played another brilliant set yet for some reason to a much smaller crowd (though me and my friends were yet again dancing up a storm). My friend left a note for Pete saying his set was divine and that we couldn't wait for them to return for them to return with Sarah and Bob. He also autographed my bro's "foxbase alpha", "misadventures" and "52 pilot" single, and was also by all accounts, a super-nice bloke. Anyhoo, that's enough from me and my rantings and ravings. I did have a most heavenly time and I can see now why a Dot gig is such a special experience. anyway sorry for absolutely no B&S content at all but gotta run folks! seeya Kin Woo +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. 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