Standing astride the stage with long blond curls billowing in the wind machine, Alison Goldfrapp sounds a bit like Kate Bush's naughty younger sister.
Shrieks and husky growls accompanied by a techno thud ensure that La Goldfrapp is a cut above your average indie crooner. She uses her voice as a tool to carve atmospheric soundscapes through the music.
This was particularly apparent in Lovely Head - one of the songs Goldfrapp sold their soul for when they licensed it for a mobile phone advertisement campaign.
Where previously I thought the various indescribable barks were some kind of keyboard, alas it was Alison.
That was in the first half of the set which began strongly with Utopia, probably the stand-out track from their debut album.
Not many bands have choruses about fascism, but Goldfrapp do, and the song soared to an otherworldly crescendo.
Alas, the pace couldn't be maintained and the two chord electro-clash stomp of the bass and keyboards began to wear a little.
Goldfrapp may not have the regulation two drummers and platform shoes, but there was definitely a glam rock aspect to their music.
The various band members pounded away anonymously in the background while Alison performed her vocal somersaults, but even her histrionics couldn't drag much of the music from the relentless drudge.
Ooh la la (as heard on another mobile phone ad) still sounds like a sort of electro glam version of Spirit in the Sky.
Still, the couples smooched, and Goldfrapp managed to pull off a sort of recovery with the encore.
Number One sounded vaguely anthemic before Strict Machine brought the show to close with a wicked and naughty wink.
John Revill
