Kim Gordon with Bill Nace @ Webster Hall - NY
Photos and words courtesy of Edwina Hay | March 18th 2022
In September 2019, the influential musician and artist Kim Gordon released her debut solo album called No Home Record. The international tour in support of it was originally scheduled to begin in May 2020 but was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly two years later, the No Home Tour began in Boston and made its way to New York City for a performance at Webster Hall in Manhattan on Friday, March 18, 2022.
The first five dates of the tour in the US features Bill Nace as the opener, and the final two shows in Asheville and Atlanta have harpist Mary Lattimore performing before Gordon instead. Then in May, No Home Tour will make its way to Europe (the original tour in 2020 was the reverse where Gordon would start in Europe and conclude stateside).
Bill Nace started his set promptly at 8:30PM, performing seated, surrounded by foot pedals while tapping on a red lap guitar, occasionally using the pedals to distort the sounds the guitar made throughout his experimental set. His newest record, Both, was released nearly two years ago and I believe this might have been his first performance in NYC after that album came out on Drag City Records in May 2020. I’ve seen Nace perform on stage with Kim Gordon in the past as the duo Body/Head and it was fitting to see him on stage solo to warm up the crowd for Kim’s first performance under her own name years later.
Kim Gordon has a full band for The No Home Tour which includes Sarah Register on guitar (who was previously in the NYC band Talk Normal), Camilla Charlesworth on bass, and Madi Vogt on drums. Vogt was the first to appear on stage and began to play first while visuals appeared on screen at the back of the stage, until everyone was on stage to start performing “Sketch Artist,” the first track from No Home Record. Kim spent much of her performance sauntering, kneeling, and pacing the stage, absolutely owning it and giving such life to these songs.
During the concert, I realized that one of the benefits of the tour being postponed for two years is that the audience at Webster Hall had lots of time to spend with Kim’s solo album and were very eager and excited to finally hear these songs performed live. As the band played “Don’t Play It,” I observed a small section near the front of the stage jump up and down and sing along with Gordon, giving me the impression it was one of their favorites. During “Get Yr Life Back,” Webster Hall’s giant mirror ball spun around reflecting the colorful lights around the venue.
At the end of the set, there was a three song encore including a cover of “Blonde Red Head” by the no wave band DNA, and concluding with “Grass Jeans,” a single that was released by Kim in December where proceeds will be donated to Fund Texas Choice. At the close of the final song, Kim handed her guitar to people in the audience where it moved around the floor while Kim climbed on amps stationed towards the back of the stage. She then returned to the front of the stage where the guitar was passed back to her by the audience, marking the end of the concert.
