PLAN B MAGAZINE
DIAMANDA GALÁS: LIVE AT THE BARBICAN, LONDON
JUNE ISSUE 2007
by Richard Fontenroy
Solo piano. Spotlight. A voice which shivers and worries at the blues with a three-and-a-half octave range until it breaks under the pressure; a foot, stamping out a rhythm to accompany Diamanda Galás' thunderous piano chords.
Captivating is an understatement - the auditorium feels pierced, hooked, ears shot through with a diamond-tipped harpoon and reeled into her almost spellbinding presence as Galás sings of love and its consequences with a power and intensity which breaks the sound barrier.
From torch songs to Edith Piaf chansons and a prowling Gloomy Sunday, ivories tinkle and roil until the moment when the peak of each song is stripped naked in the glare of chattering banshee wails and the moment becomes one of overwhelming passion. This is not an exaggeration.