Pearl Charles at London Moth Club
A No. 55 bus ride to London's dark eastern underbelly. Would any of us make it out of Hackney alive? Spoiler alert: yes, some of us would.
It is well known in our house that I only followed Pearl Charles on Instagram because she reminded me of Paul Charles, my own name at home until the age of around 8 and the first pen name I used for novel No. 1. This is irrelevant to anyone but me. As soon as I heard the music of Pearl Charles, I knew I was dealing with quality. As with the best Americana acts, she defies categorisation. She is why that label is needed. Is she a Sophie Ellis Bextor or Abba Disco Queen? Check. Is she a Christine McVie homage? Check. Is she wise beyond her years? Check. Has she got the #ZFG 'tude? Check. Are comparisons with Tom Petty valid? Check. Does she live in a hut in the desert with cactuses in the garden? Check. There is only one category that fits Pearl Charles and it is this: Pearl Charles.
If you have not been to the Moth Club before, I can recommend it. They have music, comedy and all sorts of other things. I thought I had walked into the Twin Peaks Roadhouse, with its gold glitter vaulted ceilings and its wood panelling. It appears in the BBC documentary about Loaded magazine. The Moth Club experience on its own made the 55 bus seem almost worthwhile.
Pearl and band walked on at 9pm. I knew more or less what to expect from her reels on Instagram: that was why I came along. But I learned something that night, and it is something I re-learn every time I see a live band. There is something unique and special about live music. It is a secular religious shared experience. No matter how good your headphones or speakers, your pre-amp or your gold-plated phono leads, nothing beats having an artist's twangs reach your ear unaccompanied by any electrical interference. They're using microphones of course, but apart from that. And speakers too. But apart from that.
You see the effort it takes to sing first-hand, you see how much they love singing and playing. Musicians become possessed by a different energy on a stage. It's mesmerising. I understand the songs better with a little preamble and from the horse's mouth at that. You never forget these shows. I can remember Blondie's No Exit tour appearance at the Sheffield Arena on November 25th 1999, and even Roxette at the same venue in 1992. These performances stay with you in a way that a record or CD or a digital stream never will. Or a TV show or anything on YouTube.
Pearl is even nicer and more talented than you might realise. She is the only artist I have ever seen who manned her own card-reader on the merch stall. After the final encore, she leapt off the stage and went straight over to talk to her fans at the merch stand. This is the photo at the top. She talked to everyone, took selfies, signed stuff, and made everyone in the busy queue feel special. The mirth above is for the person who used cash [Cash? Never heard of it. You mean Johnny? Ed.] and even that little challenge was neatly sorted out. She even has a tip for pro musicians: keep one of your thumbnails a little longer than the rest. It won't interfere with your guitar playing and can be used like a knife to slit the cellophane on a record faster than anything else. Nobody wants signed cellophane.
Musically, the set splits almost in half: the first half is the older material, more guitarish and more acoustic. The second half is much louder and has more of a disco pop feel to it. For the first half Pearl stood and played guitar while she sang. In the second half she sat at the keyboard instead, which emphasises the change in style.
The final song at the end of the encore was one of my favourites, and it was clearly the audience's favourite. It got a loud cheer and there was more dancing than at any other time. The song was Only For Tonight and it's got a lovely sentiment, a romantic song in the grandest sense. A song about living for the moment and the hell with it. I hate myself for checking but this is the most streamed Pearl Charles song at almost 2 million streams. I Ran So Far looks to be in second place with just over one million streams. These are eye-catching numbers. But I don't think these are my absolute favourites.
I suppose I prefer the newer songs because those are the songs that pulled me into Pearl Charles's gravitational orbit. I love City Lights and she played that wonderfully. I love Just What It Is, not one of the disco numbers. The way Pearl Charles does disco is different. It still has an occasional fiddle. It's disco for grown-ups, nowhere near Abba's parish. It is addictive night music and very chilled. Some of it sounds jazzy. I think she could pull off any style at all.
I stepped happily into the (still dry) London night after the show clutching my limited edition designer denim tote, a purchase that went over very well with Calmer Sounds when I got home. My vinyl is in prized position, in the arms of Bubbles Powerpuff, at home. I took a photo on the platform at Hackney Downs, and promptly had a stroke. All the women leaving the train were dressed like Pearl Charles. All the women at Liverpool Street looked like Pearl Charles. I was on a trip of the wrong kind. Had I been spiked? All the women at Marylebone looked like Pearl Charles. This was getting serious. Finally the penny dropped! Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter residency had just kicked off its first night at the Spurs stadium. This was real life!
I can tell you for certain that Pearl Charles is more my cup of tea than Beyoncé Knowles ever will be. She's still so young. You can get in on the ground floor, and I think she's going to rise very high indeed.
John Myrtle
A word about the support musician, John Myrtle, who has something of a following at the Moth Club. He was one of the finds of the night. His album is out soon and you can next catch him... wait for it... touring America! On July 10th he can be found in Indianapolis. Just one of the many surprises of the day. He sings beautifully about slugs / snails, spiders, dogs or almost any creature you can conjure in your mind. He is on Bandcamp and he has his own website. He only posts about twice a year on Instagram, which is probably a good strategy for all of us. He's more beautiful than Pearl Charles but not as funny as she is. [Is this right? Drugs again? Ed.]
