Parties & PeopleAlison Jiear @ RVT

Alison Jiear @ RVT

03/09/15: “Oh, I always feel at home when I come to The RVT…” sighed Alison Jiear affectionately on stage as she sipped a pint “Not that my home’s full of beautiful gay men, but it’s a lovely thought isn’t it?”

As Alison says, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern is always a gorgeously cosy, friendly environment. Whether for wholesome drinks with friends, candlelit dates, sentimental reminiscings, or, most importantly, getting off your face drunk and going mental to Loreen. But it’s at times like Alison Jiear’s show last Thursday that it really comes into its own.

I hate the phrase “intimate gig”, it’s so TicketWeb, but that really is the best way to describe it. The vibes were uncharacteristically chilled out for a Thursday night south of the river. Usually Vauxhall’s more chillout than chilled out, and it was a refreshing change. Candles flickered down to their wicks as buttery red wine was sipped and Alison crooned a selection of hits from a roof-raising cover of Wicked’s ‘Defying Gravity’(“Why couldn’t Elphaba be fat?!”) to her signature ‘I Just Wanna Dance’.

Her voice was effortlessly awe-inspiring, her inherent talent immediately, defiantly apparent. Her most charming quality though was her warm stage presence. Between songs she’d sit and chat and be wonderfully madcap and sometimes breathtakingly crude. There was a knowing glint in her eye that lent the whole thing an infectious sense of fun, making a gig by a professionally trained, critically acclaimed performer, feel like a cheeky hungover breakfast with your flatmate.

And if that sounds like a criticism, Alison, it definitely isn’t. Now babe, has your laptop got any charge? Wanna watch Bake Off?  Also I just had the last of the bacon. Oh and this is Javier, I met him last night.

372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY
Words by Dylan Jones
Photos by Mark Storey


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