UK’s Everything But The Girl, the popular electronic duo that soundtracked the 1990s with their hit songs, “Missing” and “Wrong,” had been on hiatus for 24 years, until their latest album, Fuse, in 2023.
Members Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, who are married, have been releasing solo music in between, but it was big news when the iconic duo announced two intimate shows at London’s Moth Club on April 6th and 7th of this year.
“No club bangers, no huge arena, just a chilled folk-tronic vibe,” they promoted ahead of the gig on their website. To keep it small and intimate—“front room, friends and family vibe”—tickets were only offered to people on their official mailing list, and while thousands of people tried to get tickets, there were only a couple of hundred people each night.
They played two sets, including songs from Everything But the Girl, their solo output, and a couple of covers, including covers by Adrienne Lenker and Charli xcx. They also featured their son, Blake Watts, who played one of his own original tunes from his musical venture called Family Stereo.
What is the future for Everything But The Girl?
While the night was officially billed as just “Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn,” they said that if these nights went well, they would consider doing more Everything But The Girl shows. Apparently, the nights went really well, which bodes well for long-time fans.
Tracey Thorn had a dream that the nights went well and that they were paid in bags of weed, which she jokingly said was an “anxiety dream.” Everything But The Girl has soundtracked many people’s lives and promises to make a bit of a resurgence if they get out on the road again.
Their 2023 album, Fuse, was a ten-song return to form, and created quite the stir when it came out, perhaps fueling the fire for these live shows and the consideration of getting out there more as a live duo. They opened their show with their successful cover of “Night and Day,” a Cole Porter cover, and they encored the songs “Nothing Left to Lose” and “25th December.”
It begs the question: Will they also be getting into the studio again sometime soon? They’ve made it as solo gigs for this long, but like many other bands, like the Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins, will Everything But The Girl be the main creative venture for these established musicians? One way or another, we should get good music from their direction.