Here’s Why You Should See Kristin Hersh:

Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses, Solo, 50 Foot Wave) returns to NZ next week for a set of solo shows — there are many reasons why you should see her in concert…

Kristin Hersh NZ TOUR:

I’m reminded, as music journalism is represented only in social media posts these days, that there are still applications for what we used to call and rely on as (actual) “music journalism”. We might not need album reviews the way we used to — everything arrives on the same day for everyone and is ‘free’ if you want it to be — but how do you know about the right things to check out, and if you’re not scrolling all over the apps, and even if you are, you might not see the posters promoting the shows. And even if you do, you might forget in an instant since the apps have retrained your brain; since it’s tough out there for everyone too so sometimes you just need to know that you can justify the spend.

I thought about all of this when remembering that Kristin Hersh is returning to New Zealand next week. I have actually lost count of the number of times I’ve seen her perform live, but I think it’s six — twice with Throwing Muses (I can confirm that) and four times solo, but maybe it’s five? I wish it was more. I do know that. And I’m excited to have the chance to see her again next week. To make it at least five times I’ve seen her weave her magic from the stage.

It’s just gone 30 years since I first saw Kristin Hersh, and “met” her music. I’d heard about the Throwing Muses, and was keen to check them out, brilliantly they had an album called University and they were doing the University Orientation circuit in a genius bit of stunt-casting, or low-key marketing cleverness. Sam Hunt, no less, was also on the Orientation tour and he told his audience (which I was absolutely a part of) that we must go and see the Muses because Kristin’s lyrics were so fucking good. That’s almost a direct quote. I was so signed up after that, I bought the T-shirt on the way in, and the album the next day. It was mind-blowing. Front row. Hanging off every word, enthralled by it all.

A few years later I would see Hersh solo for the first time. Still have the poster on the wall.

After that first dip into the Muses, I went back through the catalogue, the way you do with a new favourite artist. And then I realise, oh yeah, this is the same person that did that spellbinding duet with Michael Stipe on a song called Your Ghost. Actually Kristin’s song. From her first solo record, which I knew — as just one of those great, great songs you never quite collect, but hear in places, it occupies spaces and you captured by it whenever you hear it.

Kristin also has this other band, this heavier sound again — 50 Foot Wave, a power trio (like the Muses) and featuring the same bass player. They have seven albums, of which the first two are critical to your listening of Hersh as a songwriter and musician; just to see where else she can take her, um, muse. She’s been known to play a 50 Foot Wave song (or two) in her solo sets, sometimes. Recent setlists haven’t show any, but that doesn’t mean they won’t appear.

That’s the beauty of seeing her shows — and returning. You will never see the same show twice.

Here, I’ve grabbed the setlists from last week’s Perth show:

And then two days later, when she played Adelaide:

And yeah, sure, there are some of the same songs, but the order is different. There are also whole new songs for certain nights, and there’s always the chance that she will read from one of her books. She has two excellent memoirs that follow her career and life, a heartbreaking, but wonderful slim volume about her friend, Vic Chesnutt, and a newer book about songwriting. She is a wonderful writer for the page. And her banter, incorporating book-readings, or associated stories from the writing of these and other works, is unique night-to-night also. Another reason to always go and see her.

Let those two playlists above be your guidance for the bones of what her New Zealand shows might sound like, but by the time she plays here several new things from the old days might be added, and most certainly the order will have a new shape. I’ve heard her start a show with Your Ghost, and of course end a show with Your Ghost, I’ve also been there when, with no fanfare or explanation, it was just dropped casually mid-set as if another song. Which it is, in the context of Hersh’s catalogue. I mean, sure, it’s a highlight, and one of the best known, but it’s also just an example of what she does. The songs come to her, fully formed, as dreams, as visions, she is the conduit for them, the interlocutor, she catches them in her butterfly net, pins them down long enough to trace the shape and make the picture. The recorded versions are one thing, and beautiful, but the live versions are where the song really sings, and never just where it is sung.

Here’s my review from seeing her less than two years ago, barely 18 months ago in fact:

There is also the chance — I’ve been there for it, more than once — that Hersh will just drop a cover version into her set too. Cat Steven’s Trouble is one such gem. The old blues staple purloined somewhat by Led Zeppelin, When The Levee Breaks — these, or others, could be served, in Kristin’s inimitable way. I love the way her gravel-howl of a voice and her deep guitar scratch makes it so that you constantly feel like only one person could be doing this, but paradoxically it fills the space and occupies it in a way only a band is usually able to do.

I’ve also still got the tour poster from my second time seeing Throwing Muses framed, and on the wall.

This one’s getting close to 20 years old already. But in our house these posters are art — and not just because of the cool design behind them, but for the memory of seeing the actual art performed live. These songs that haunt and cast spells, these songs that live and breathe and surge forth from the stage, faithful enough to their recorded versions, always, but living and breathing and pulsing anew.

I guess all I’m trying to say is that if you see Hersh live you won’t forget it, you certainly won’t regret it — she’s a unique performer, letting free a sound all her own.

There’s also the person behind the performer. I’ve interviewed her a couple of times. The second phone call, ahead of one of her solo tours, I told her how much we’d loved the memoir. Full gush-mode, and I said, “my wife told me that after reading your book she felt like you and her were friends”. It was meant as a compliment around the immediacy and intimacy of the book, and some shared experiences or ways of coping/not coping. And it was out of my mouth before I thought about whether that was the best thing to share. It soon became the very best thing to share. Kristin replied: “You tell her that we are friends!” And then, “I loved hearing that, I’m glad you told me that, I like the idea of being friends with my readers, even if we never meet, that is how we meet: On the page”. I mean, can a response be any more perfect or kind than that? Can an author (or reader) really hope for more from the arrangement? This should guarantee Hersh a place at almost all literary festivals.

One time I was doing some work for a venue that was on the verge of closing, they were worried. They asked me to email a few people that had played there — to spread awareness, etc. Only one internationally famous musician replied. You guessed it. Kristin Hersh wrote back sharing what a fond experience she had encountered playing in that venue, and the staff that had helped her, how she would be back as soon as she could — and she was — how she would tell others to play there. It’s not because of this of course, but that venue survives to this day. I like to think she sure helped. I like thinking about how she immediately replied, and with utmost sincerity. I like thinking about how positive vibes are a goddamned thing!

And look, here, the proof that Kristin Hersh is someone who values old-fashioned music journalism. This, from her Instagram:

Here she is appreciating Under The Radar for taking the time to speak with her; I mean that is what it is about, that’s part of what made me want to write this. If I can help spread the word in any way about this brilliant musician and more than decent human being, this committed artist, then I’ll do what I can. Share this about to your friends that might be interested. Listen to the brand new Throwing Muses record (fantastic):

Buy a ticket to her show, for you, or a friend, or both. Check out the music if you never have, or tell the people in your life that love gigs to get to a show near them:

Finally, Auckland and Wellington are both in for an extra treat, with Jon Muq from America, by way of Uganda, sharing the bill and opening the show: