I had seen Ms. Barnes a couple of years ago (here) in a truncated set as part of a Best Of and had subsequently seen her on various programmes, so was very curious to see what a full set from her would be like.
And it was pretty good. The general theme was about her turning 40 last year, being with a partner she loved and choosing not to have children (thematically similar to the previous show, Ellie Taylor). Which sounds a little heavy but fortunately she introduced a number of other topics. The main one is that Ms. Barnes is a fan of brutalist concrete architecture (as she said, when she was brought up she was surrounded by it, along with concrete playgrounds which were basically building sites with less Health & Safety) and for her 40th birthday her partner took her for a romantic couple of nights in a disused nuclear bunker in Wales. This then segued into a routine about When The Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs and - internally I squealed with excitement at this bit - she produced an original Protect And Survive booklet which she had bought on eBay for £60 (yes, I am about to look for one). Of course, given this advice has never been officially superseded then if it all kicks off soon we may yet hear the ominous and terrifying warnings on television and radio ...
I digress. She covered plenty of other topics (including a new one to me - perimenopause - which she had recently been "diagnosed" with) but all circling back to the same general theme.
She was good, charismatic and very witty and engaging. I enjoyed it.
I had a show afterwards at 2200 but for some reason my energy, already low, had dropped, so yet another show was missed. Fortunately the show I had planned was part of the Free Festival (note - there ain't no such thing) so I didn't lose any money (well, any more than I was already haemorrhaging) but bought myself some doughnuts and wine and went back to the flat. I'm now on first name terms with the Tattoo stewards and security cordon so they let me through no bother ...
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