Girl Power’s Spice Done Right
The Pipettes in Philadelphia, June 3, 2007
By Caralyn Green
Published: June 6th, 2007 | 2:04pm
On June 3, 2007, it was pouring in Philadelphia, the kind of rain that breaks when heat meets night, and the basement of the First Unitarian Church was anything but a shelter from the storm. There was no calm inside. Warmth, yes, but moist, restless velocity, prettied up in sweat-drenched bows. Sticky thighs rubbing to the beat. A lone ceiling fan or two tickling the clammy air. The Pipettes, onstage, in the midst of their first major North American tour.
At first look, first listen, for the first five minutes, the ‘60s throwback group seems like cotton-candy perfection. Perfectly pressed polka-dotted frocks, perfectly coiffed and shellacked hairdos, and perfectly synchronized, self-possessed hip jutting choreography. Perfectly polished, Phil Spector–ish girl pop from Brighton, England. The blonde bombshell Gwenno, the bespeckled firecracker RiotBecki, and the cherry-cheeked brunette Rosay, sing ditties about love and proclaim themselves to be the prettiest girls you’ve ever met. The all-male Cassettes in the background play the instruments and pull the strings. Vacuum-packed perfection.
But then there’s the run that ambled down Rosay’s black pantyhose. RiotBecki’s dark eyeliner, smeared from too much dancing and too much reckless indifference. The frizz that gathers at the nape of Gwenno’s sweet little neck. And lyrics that are so imbued with sexual agency, so brashly cynical, thrashing with postmodern sisterhood. Sweat drips down the girls’ faces as they their tap their high heels, patent leather and sequined. They command the audience to clap their hands if they want some more (“Pull Shapes”), and harmonize about casual hook-ups (“One Night Stand”), filthy boys (“Dirty Mind”), and dudes who won’t shut up long enough to get in some fucking (“Sex”). “You’re so beautiful and talented!” shouts a fanboy toward the cramped, dimly lit stage. The girls in the audience swoon. If only we all could sing so sweet, look so hot in such short skirts.
Not since the Spice Girls has sex sold so much manufactured girl empowerment.
Not that it’s a bad thing, says this girlie girl with a penchant for all things flirty and fun.
The Spice Girls had their time and place, and so do the Pipettes. And their time and place was definitely June 3 at the First Unitarian Church, an esoteric spot that’s as wonderful as it is uncomfortable. There and then, the Pipettes were bathed in nothing but smiles, finger wags, and shimmy shakes for their strategic set, which bookended new numbers and rarities between favorites from their debut album, We Are The Pipettes, released in the U.K. by Memphis Industries almost a full year ago.
The non-album songs were nice enough — “By My Side,” in particular inspired some impulsive exuberance — but it was familiar numbers like “Judy,” “Pull Shapes,” and “Your Kisses are Wasted on Me,” that inspired Rosay to decree, “Fabulous dancing! The best we’ve seen yet on this side of the pond.”
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Photos by Caralyn Green
Issue #35
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