BAREFOOT CONTESSA + TOO MANY ZEROS + HOWARD30th July 2000Too Many Zeros from Cambridge provided a palatable instrumental hors d'oeuvre, switching between guitar/bass/drums avant-rock and keyboard electronics. Singer-songwriter Howard - Woodston's Johnny Cash - performed his regular paeans to local hostelries as well as some urbanised C&W, but even his bleak songs of gunmen and murder were overshadowed by just one line from headliners Barefoot Contessa. "And all she wants is to kill the one who brought her down to this."  The emotional intensity of singer Helene Dineen, backed by local guitar genius Graham Gargiulo, was simply chilling. Helene was captivating on relatively lighter songs such as the jazzy Candies and Velvet Underground-like Chair Love, but it's the doomy stuff that really puts her in the top echelon of British girl singers. All in all, a perfect evening.David Stapleton, Peterborough Evening Telegraph |