Music / Reviews
Review: Prima Queen, Thekla – ‘Emotional tenderness mixed with lots of fun’
It was a family affair at the Thekla on Wednesday night as the parents of both members of Prima Queen were in the audience for the first night of the band’s UK tour.
Kristin McFadden is from Chicago which is where her parents had travelled in from while Louise Macphail grew up in Bristol so this was a home show for her.
“We are sorry we sing so much about having sex and getting naked in our songs,” Kristin said half-apologetically to the family members in tonight. “Those bits are not for you.”
is needed now More than ever
This tour coincides with the recent release of Prima Queen’s debut album The Prize, with the podium from many of the promotional photos placed on stage and which Louise stood on as the set came to a close.
The true prize for this pair, however, is female friendship – also a theme for support act Lilo, who joined Louise and Kristin for backing vocals during The Prize: “You’re a diamond, you’re the dream, you’re a peach.”
It took almost a decade from Louise and Kristin first meeting for them to release their long-awaited debut album and during that time they released plenty of music that could easily have made it into an album.
One of the best reactions of the night was for one of those earlier songs, Eclipse, featuring a story about having sex outside and sex on the sofa at a boyfriend’s parents’ house (cover your ears, mum).
Another non-album track was the tender Butterknife with Kristin swapping guitar for violin and Louise on speaking rather than singing duties.
The pair took turns on lead vocal duties throughout the night, singing sometimes painful stories with the emotion especially wrought on the face of Kristin.
But the emotional tenderness was mixed with plenty of fun and smiles, and even a few choreographed dance moves during Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg), with the sporting theme continuing as a couple of crowd members were given their own prizes from the merch stand for being ‘MVP’.
For Louise, playing at the Thekla was “crazy” as it was a venue she often came to when younger. “I keep on getting flashbacks,” she told the crowd, remembering one gig by Phoebe Bridgers she had seen here with an ex-boyfriend.
As their family members watched on, the prize for everyone at the Thekla was seeing Prima Queen becoming such an accomplished band and one so willing to share the foibles of living life as women today.
Main photo: Josh Sealey
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