Barbican, London
"I love that tonight is the night for technical difficulties," says Joan Wasser in an impish whisper. "This is so exciting." Wasser, the striking face and stunning voice behind Joan as Police Woman, has played the Barbican before with cohort Rufus Wainwright. But this is her debut headline show, and she can't hide her glee. "It is really incredible to be here," she says. "I'm a little bit beside myself."
Tackling dodgy monitors and amplifiers with the same upbeat spirit that permeates her emotionally wrought music, Wasser never lets the hitches dampen the slow-burning sensuality of Flash or the sharp beauty of Save Me. Her third album, The Deep Field, sees the 40-year-old embracing her rockier side; slinking between keyboard and guitar in a leather jumpsuit, she is more Joan Jett than Joan of Arc. The sultry image matches the lusty leanness of new songs Nervous and Chemmie, but Wasser is quick to prick her potential pin-up status, professing a hope that she will make the outfit filthy enough to stand up on its own at the end of the 50-date tour. "Think I'll do it?"
This is only gig number five, but the chemistry between her and Tyler Wood on synths and Parker Kindred on drums couldn't be stronger. They share peerless three-part harmonies, Wood and Kindred weaving an authentic soul sound around Wasser's uncontainable vocals, which swing from fuzzy lows to falsetto highs. Panting and sighing as she sings about falling in love and "fucking against a wall", Wasser's startling performance is rewarded by stunned silence, two encores and a standing ovation, each more deserved than the last.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/08/joan-as-police-woman-review
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