Martha Tilston and the Woods, Bracknell

This has got to be my Gig of the Year 2006, an absolutely wonderful experience. I’d heard that Martha was to design the stage so that it seemed like she and the band were playing around a camp fire in the forest, and sure enough, it was, er, kind of similar. Dried foliage adorned the stage, monitors were disguised with green cloth, two pillars painted like tree trunks and there was a leafy-framed projection screen showing a forest (which changed to show videos to accompany each song). The ‘fire’ was a little wigwam of sticks with those fake gas-light bulbs inside, it was hilarious when various members of the band pretended to warm their feet against it or dry off their setlists! The band members were dressed formally as if they were part of an orchestra, except with wellies, causing further hilarity. Martha herself was wearing a stunning red dress with cute stripy wellies, she looked beautiful and I couldn’t blame Mr Badger for going starry-eyed (for once!).
The music was excellent, including plenty of new songs as well as (inevitably) Red Riding Hood from Mousetales, A Surfer Courted Me (to the tune of ‘A Blacksmith Courted Me’ and two piano songs (a Steinway in the middle of a forest – amazing!). The highlight of the evening for me however was ‘Artificial' from the new album, with a brilliant video of a box-headed office drone who decides to leap across the desks and flee. Bill and I were both humming or singing that song for the rest of the week. Dammit, it’s got into my brain again! If the charts were in any way fair, this song would be No. 1 for weeks and weeks.