Gig played on 16/07/05

There's a lot to be said for easing into fame a little later in life and Aimee Mann must know that better than most. After bidding sayonara to the record industry, only on the cusp of her 40s did she finally crack the big time. The former hedgehog-haired synthster struck lucky when "Boogie Nights" boy P.T. Anderson made a movie ("Magnolia") around her songs; and after years of straddling both critical acclaim and the critical list she was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. To then be pipped by Pip Collins and his song about 'monkey love' might have stung a bit then.

Mann's new album, her fifth, deals with far weightier matters. A concept album, "The Forgotten Arm", details the story of a former boxer who returns from Vietnam with a smack addiction. It doesn't sound the premise for a fun-packed evening; but as Miss Mann strides onto stage, with her Gibson strapped across her shoulders, she certainly looks intent on entertaining the throng. Kicking-off with album opener "Dear John", she slurs her Virginian drawl above the funkiest little bar band this side of Little Feat.

Swamped by southern boogie, the tomboyish Aimee is maybe not the most theatrical of stage presences. She trades the odd quip and sardonic smile with the audience, but resists the urge to shake her booty or throw shapes. As she explains, she's far happier throwing herself around a boxing ring with her sparring bass guitarist; and lyrically too she always has had a distinctly pull-no-punches approach. She pleads to Shepherd's Bush to "save me from the ranks of the freaks who suspect they could never love anyone". Hardly "Lady In Red", is it?

Feted in Nick Hornby's book "31 Songs", she closes though with perhaps her sweetest song, "I've Had It". A subject that could sound hackneyed and self-pitying in another songwriter's hand (a band falling apart at the seams) seems reverential in her sleepyhead tones. Quite why Aimee Mann isn't a major, major star truly puzzles and doesn't she just know it. As she sings, "like most amazing things, it's easy to miss and easy to mistake. For when things are really great, it just means everything's in its place."

by CRH