It was great to see Toyah in such good form at Ronnie Scott's last Sunday, the new tracks are fantastic and really move Toyah into the higher league. I have been a fan since '81 and this is the best musically I've heard from her in a long time. I'd hoped for maybe a few rarer live tracks (maybe tap into "Prostitute" or "Desire" or some more obsure album tracks) rather than "Mystery" for instance, but the crowd seemed to love the classics and the reaction to "I Wanna Be Free" was great! Toyah seemed to be really enjoying the evening as it went on, after what seemed to be quite a nervous start.  She became more chatty with the audience and she and Tim Elsenburg seem to make a great double act!  It transpired during the night (after some rather loud demands for "Ieya") that Tim had forgotten to learn the part!  Tim responded to the requests by shouting back 'Hiya!'. 

Before playing "Mother" Toyah thanked Robert for forgiving her for writing it - and annouced that Robert was in the audience but only she knew where (Robert in fact was hovering at the back trying to fade into the background and looked quite embarassed!). I think my favourite track (aside from the "Little Tears of Love" tracks) was "Every Scar Has A Silver Lining", (Toyah had wanted to call it "Every Shit Has a Silver Lining" but this was refused!) which was the second song of the evening - she rocked! "Thunder" was played in a new interpretation with slow beat verses breaking into the chorus and it gave it a new lease of life. "Mystery" was played quite subdued but good none the less (personally I think the heavy metal version played during the Strange Girls tour early 90's should be revived). "I Want to be Free" ended the set played at double speed and the audience got to their feet to join in, with Toyah passing the mike around the front row to sing along. 

I don't think Ronnie Scott's has been shaken up so much on a Sunday night and it seemed to be a huge success. Toyah seems to have found her sound, both in the studio and on stage. I hope the momentum keeps going and there is really good promotion when the new album eventually appears - would be a shame if the general public never got to hear what Toyah has to offer in 2002. 

Well done, Toyah keep up the good work! 

Ronnie Scott's Set List: 

Something Good Is Going To Come 
Every Scar 
Little Tears Of Love 
Troublesome Thing 
Experience 
Thunder In The Mountains 
Mother 
Strange 
You're A Miracle 
It's A Mystery 
I Want To Be Free 

Many thanks to Stephen Bennett for the review & Paul Cable for the pictures.