An attentive crowd crams into the Academy, many taking sartorial inspiration from the ‘indie Lady Gaga’ with her denim shirt, skinny black jeans and messy blonde locks. Ladyhawke, aka Pip Brown, has said she prefers to dress in men’s clothing. However, the 33-year-old maintains an air of femininity – and an attitude to rival the aforementioned Ms. Germanotta.
Twinkling synths kick off ‘Back Of The Van’, the bouncy pop tune from her eponymous debut
“I’m so happy to be back in Dublin!” she announces in her strong Kiwi drawl before launching into ‘Blue Eyes’, a big, polished rock anthem from new album, Anxiety.
The title track of the same name edges back into pure pop territory and when the first chords of ‘Professional Suicide’ ring out the room erupts into a mass sing/dancealong.
‘Black White & Blue’ also impresses with its power and gusto; her gothic side comes to the fore during ‘Magic’ and the Lady rocks a tambourine solo at the start of ‘Sunday Drive’, which has ‘top 10 hit’ written all over it.
Down to earth with a ‘no bullshit’ philosophy, she jokes, “This is my last song, except it’s not because I’m going to pretend to go away, and then come back for an encore!”
And that she does with a dark, sexy cover of ‘White Rabbit’ – one Jefferson Airplane would surely be proud of.