Concert Review: Imogen Heap

The first time we saw Imogen Heap was at the rodeo on Austin, Texas, about eight years ago when she was touring on her first album I Megaphone (we'd fished the record out the promo box at the used CD store where we worked and fell instantly in love). Performing a short set for a radio event, she sat alone at her piano and sang "Come Here Boy" with a voice that filled up the dirt-filled coliseum. Then she disappeared for four years, eventually reemerging as the voice of Frou Frou, a duo that rarely toured. Thanks to some love from Zach Braff and "The O.C.", her audience continued to grow, but when she recorded her second solo album Speak For Yourself in her London flat in 2004, she still didn't have a record label in the U.S. It's been a steady climb for Immi, so it was a pleasure to see her perform Sunday night to a packed crowd at the Warfield.

Opening the show was local artist Kid Beyond, an adult man who does some incredible beatboxing. If you're a fan of spoken word, beat-driven electronic music and the occasional cover song, you really should see him perform. Mostly we just marvelled at the unbelievable sounds he was making with his mouth, and our interest in him peaked when Imogen brought him out as a part of her band, mimicking exactly the beats on her recordings.

Imogen Heap
Ah, Immi. She's so unusual, and we love her for it. Bedecked in a cotton candy and flamingo pink corset, taffeta and tulle ensemble, she looked like a Victorian saloon girl (as if there were such a thing) sporting a proud tuft of feathers on her head. The stage was fully dressed as well, with a twinkling swoosh of lights in the background, five circular screens over the band's heads and birds, trees and flowers decorating her transparent piano. She started the set by walking us through the various machines and gear in her setup: her mbira, parrot, samplers and so forth, so we'd understand how she was making her layers of noise. We've only ever seen her perform solo before, so it was a special treat to see her with a full band. Their instrumentation, of course, was unexpected: an upright bass, a french horn, a xylophone, an acoustic guitar played with a bow, and our aforementioned hometown beatboxer Kid Beyond.

You had your choice of being transfixed by the visuals, the music or her angelic voice, and the crowd was rapt for the duration. Imogen lamented a few times about having a cold, and between songs she'd sip hot tea and discreetly walk offstage to blow her nose, careful to make sure her microphone was turned off before she did it. She joked that the next tour stop, Portland, would have to suffer because she was determined to kill it in San Francisco, which she did. Her set centered around songs from her latest album, but she threw in tracks from Frou Frou and her debut record as well. A highlight came when she walked out to the front of the stage alone with her red keytar to sing "Hide And Seek".

Near the close of the show, she told the crowd that this is the last time she'll see us for awhile, because she's due to go back into the studio to record another album. We wish her luck on the new record, and hope her increased notoriety allows her to continue to speak for herself.

Watch a clip of "Headlock" from the show (here's the link if that doesn't play for you):