I saw Grace Jones last night at the Sage , see above for images of Ms Jones now and (top) , how she looked at the time of her
well known attack on Mr Harty on his own show of all things .
Though for a while I avoided the Sage , I now revel in the upmarket ambiance and views across the Tyne from Gateshead towards Newcastle and the knowledge that in such a small world I am bound to bump into someone I know , but without the actual bumping which goes on in the City hall which is wonderful but altogether more of a crush .
Back to Grace Jones , an icon whose images were postered in the wine bars and drinking emporia of my twenties . Three shots for a pound after work on the sea front , with a six foot tall model on a leash with an oiled body and pushed into a cage glaring out at us . Grace Jones as angry big cat , claws at the ready .
Now sixty years old , nothing much
seems to have changed . She appears after something of a delay on a hydraulic platform looking like a zwarovski jewel , huge stiffened feather adorning her head and adding two feet to her height , and wearing a man's suit jacket , leggings and skyscraper heels .
As the show progressed there was a costume change with each song ( how does she do that ? ) and the audience was treated to increasing displays of..... well ... not to put too fine a point on it , everything . Accustomed as we are to displays of nudity behind the body stocking and flesh coloured undergarment , I found myself turning my head from side to side and thinking , why is the word "pudenda " springing to mind here as the only suitable word to describe what we are seeing and which is it which seems the rudest , that , or the intriguing way she manages to shimmer her well honed bottom cheeks ( at sixty ? ) . At audience participation time it seems the latter . The chaps giving it what for with her to " Pull up to the Bumper " can't resist cupping her cheeks and she chuckles " hey I think I'm gonna get laid here " or words to that effect . I am more fascinated by the guy who as she dances close is sidling off stage left .....
Without a doubt her body is amazing , her voice stunning and as far as I could see no one got slapped about . The excitement was palpable throughout and if I hadn't had such a migrainey , stressy day for quite other reasons , you may have seen me raking through boxes digging out some old vinyl version of Nightclubbing .
Grace Jones , what a legend .....Grace Jones Interview : Celebrity Interviews - Access interviews with the worl
Live music review: Dave Simpson on Grace Jones Music The Guardian
