Last Thursday, I was soaking wet after watching a gig in an open air venue coming straight from a 12-hour shift at work. This after high praise of open air venues as I pretty much enjoyed Blur at Hyde Park and The Mars Volta at Somerset House.

It was well worth it though as I got a chance to watch the lovely Natasha Khan, more popularly known as Bat for Lashes.

The weather actually played nice until the support’s, DM Stith, last few songs. He even exclaimed at the start of his set, “I don’t think it’s going to rain.” Maybe he jinxed it, but then again this is London which is famously known for it’s freakish weather.

While waiting for Bat for Lashes to start, I spent most of the time at the back near the toilets as this was the only shelter from the rain one could find. I am not a big fan of umbrellas and only had a barely waterproof jacket on.

When Bat for Lashes started, I decided to brave the pissing rain and tried watching her performance which was quite hard considering all the umbrellas up. It was real difficuly to squeeze in a view through the small cracks in between umbrellas.

Thankfully, the sound was quite brilliant and listening to her live was quite the experience.

With a little determination, and I do mean a little, I was able to push towards the front barrier albeit slightly toward off centre. This gave me a great view though of Natasha as she played on the paino, strings and as she danced on stage.

Right after her set, the rain stopped which was perfect for her encore. With all the umbrellas down, everyone had a chance to watch her properly performing Two Planets and Daniel.

Despite the rain, the gig was quite enjoyable. The sound was pretty solid despite the falling rain and occassional thunder. Natasha was quite charming, nice and friendly on stage in between songs and quite powerful and lively while performing songs which consisted of a good mix between her two albums, Fur and Gold and Two Suns.

Here’s a video of her performing Daniel.

Here’s the setlist again from Setlist.fm.

• Trophy
• Glass
• Horse & I
• Travelling Woman
• Bat’s Mouth
• Sarah
• Sleep Alone
• The Wizard
• Siren Song
• Tahiti
• What’s A Girl To Do?
• Pearl’s Dream
• Prescilla
• Good Love
• Two Planets
• Daniel

This is one performer I’d love to watch again though in a closed venue.