THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
With smoke rising and bathed in pink light, a lithe, tattooed woman strode on stage with palpable confidence and enthusiasm. She wore black leather tights and combat boots, with her long, black hair flowing. Enter the Los Angeles born American rock chick Beth Hart, taking the stage at the Hammersmith Apollo. When a friend offered me tickets because he would be out of town for the concert, I jumped at the chance while not admitting to him I had (unbelievably) never heard of her. After quickly looking her up, one critic described her as ‘There are singers, there are good singers and then there is Beth Hart’ – I was indeed in for a treat!
I had a week’s time before the show to familiarize myself with Hart, so cued her up on Spotify during my early morning yoga-ish exercises. I was immediately struck by the power, passion and purity of this blues, country, soul and rock artist. She has an enormous vocal range that changes musical genres on a whim. I quickly adopted 4 or 5 standouts and couldn’t wait to hear them live. What I didn’t know was the extent of her catalog. The songs I was listening to were over 20 years old, from the 2003 album Leave the Light On. She has, in fact, made eleven studio albums, one extended play, three collaboration albums and three live albums. She has collaborated with the legendary guitarists Slash, Jeff Beck and Joe Bonamassa. She was nominated for a Grammy for Best Blues Album with Seesaw and nominated for 6 consecutive years at the ‘Blues Music Awards,’ ultimately winning in 2018. She is now on her You Still Got Me tour, promoting the album that was released October 2024.
The Apollo Hammersmith venue itself was a great pleasure. Despite a 3,600-plus capacity it is an intimate-feeling art deco grade II listed building that opened in 1932. The only other time I’d been there before was taking my young son to see ‘The Wiggles’! “Country music is now hot,” said a security man when describing the packed house for Beth Hart. She made the hall seem even more than intimate, like she was playing at a local club and singing to every individual in the audience personally. Prancing on the stage, tossing her flowing black mane around her shoulders, she resembled a female thoroughbred. She immediately went into a full gymnastic double knee dip which hurt just to look at (I am extremely inflexible with artificial hips and knees)! She then, did a total backbend while playing an imaginary guitar on her torso. ‘She plays three instruments’, my seatmate said, ‘her voice, the piano and her body!’ Truer words couldn’t be said!
At 53 years old, Hart looks and acts 25 years younger. Often she refers to her “wild days” and her addiction recovery: “I’m so happy to be on stage tonight because so often I don’t make it”. The whole audience could immediately feel that it truly was a ‘good day’ for her and she was grateful to be on stage playing to a packed and appreciative audience in London.
If I was struck by her black clad figure, confidence, athleticism, flexibility and delivery, her vocal range is as incredible. She got into gymnastic positions while belting out the notes in a black sparkling halter top with black wrist bands. There was a certain amount of crotch grabbing as well, this lady was on fire, a definitive ‘bad ass!’ addicted to MMA, karaoke as well as strip clubs.
She opened with ‘If I Tell You I love You,’ pacing the stage, sometimes leaning on her guitarist or perching on her drummer’s kit, stretching her body like a lioness. She later sang the bluesy ‘I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know’ while making her way into the crowd. She was closely followed during her walkabout by a blond, pony-tailed ‘bodyguard’ – her hunky husband Scotty. She later dedicated ‘Drunk on Valentine’ to him. “He’s 64 years old and keeps getting hotter,” she cooed. She wandered around the adoring audience, finally resting her head on the crossed leg of the man sitting next to me, all the time singing flawlessly. The audience was thrilled, and she came very close to giving my son a ‘high five’ as she strode past. She had no backup singers and didn’t need them – her voice was magnetic. The audience swiveled to and fro to follow her every movement, reaching their arms out to touch this phenomenal lady.
Her band were three slightly older looking versions of ZZ Top – white long beards and black top hats. Sharp Dressed Men indeed – lead guitarist John Nichols, bassist Tom Lilly and drummer Bill Ransom, who accompanied Beth with gusto. She clearly adores them as they do her.
Hart eventually took to a candlelit black grand piano for an acoustic set. ‘Little Heartbreak Girl’ was more country than rock. She wrote it years ago, but it just ended up on the latest album. “Little Heartbreak girl / You’re gonna conquer the world” was the refrain, and it especially resonated with me as I am aiming for that very thing! ‘Never Underestimate a Gal’ was, oddly, about a predatory man who gets his comeuppance. Though it was a dark theme, she sang it with joy, whistling while playing the piano with gusto. With ‘Bad Woman Blues’ she joked with the audience, “it’s just so much more fun to be bad! I’m so old now, it’s a wonder I’m not dead!”
She’s a bit Etta James, a bit Janis Joplin, raw and intense. Her songs can break your heart (I shed a tear or two during some numbers) but also uplift your soul and raise your spirit. She talked to the audience about her substance problems, bipolar disorder and the loss of a sister who sadly passed away from Aids, before, once again, performing like a woman possessed. ‘Skin’ was one of two touching song about her sister Sharon, along with ‘God Bless You’, which she had never before performed live. Both were heartfelt tributes.
The country angle was covered by John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’ which, she explained, is her favorite karaoke song – it sounded better than Denver himself, or indeed the Grammy winning Machine Gun Kelly/Jelly Roll current remix. Everyone knew the chorus and sang along. Then came her tribute to the Man in Black, ‘Wanna Be Big Bad Johnny Cash’. As her set ended, she had to be dragged off the stage, such was her enthusiasm for entertaining. “We’ve only been playing for an hour and thirty five minutes” she complained.
The encore included two Led Zeppelin songs (which she has done a cover album of) and she ended on the iconic ‘Kashmir’. What a performer! She has it all – beauty, tattoos, muscles, a troubled history, salty language, audience rapport and one of the best voices (male or female) I’ve ever heard. She even ‘skats’ when it suits. Totally without ego, she read the room and engaged with the audience on a personal level, sharing personal stories and insights, spending some of the evening sitting on the edge of the stage, legs dangling into the crowd, as if she were in her living room.
On a personal note, this was the first concert I had attended since I lost my husband 3 months ago. It was hard to enter the packed auditorium without him, but Beth Hart gave me so much joy that my self confidence got a big boost that evening. I thank her for that. A month ago, I had never heard of her but now can’t get Beth Hart out of my head. If you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing her music, take a listen, you may get hooked, like me, by this gritty, rock goddess.
‘I’m so happy not to have canceled tonight,’ was her opening line on stage. No happier than me and the Apollo audience.