ALISON MOYET + IONA ZAJAC – BRIGHTON DOME 10.3.25
Who would have guessed that 15,461 days on from my debut encounter with Alison Moyet here at Brighton Dome, that I would be back seeing her live in action again in a seat quite close to my original one! That debut encounter was on 10th November 1982 as one-half of the relatively short lived Yazoo project with Depeche Mode escapee Vince Clarke, who as legend has it, replied to an advert placed in the music press by Moyet. Although their music backgrounds were arguably of different styles, there was commonality in that they both hailed from Basildon in Essex.
Yazoo only originally ran from 1981 to 1983, but in that time they seriously stamped their mark as debut album ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ climbed as high as No.2 in the UK Official Album Charts and was followed by chart topping ‘You And Me Both’. But by this time the duo had already grown apart and as far as I can recall none of the tunes on either album were actually written jointly. But the legend of many of these synthpop compositions have worked their way into the hearts of many genuine music lovers. Through their simplicity they have stood the test of time and this evening at Brighton Dome no less than four of those Yazoo corkers get a welcomed airing. Two of these solely being penned by Clarke, one by Moyet and an original b-side with joint writing credits, this tune being my favourite ever Yazoo tune. Interestingly, three of these songs were also played live at Brighton Dome forty-three and a third years ago!
With Vince Clarke now very much out of the picture and dominating the charts with The Assembly and then Yazoo, both of which remained on the Mute imprint, Alison Moyet signed to the massive CBS label and began her solo career. In 1984, Moyet released her debut solo album ‘Alf’ which was titled after her punk-era nickname. Proving that her success with Clarke wasn’t a fluke, ‘Alf’ became a UK No.1 hit album in 1984. ‘Alf’ spawned three international hit singles, ‘Love Resurrection’ (UK No.10), ‘Invisible’ (UK No.21) and ‘All Cried Out’ (UK No.8). In 1985 Moyet performed at ‘Live Aid’ alongside Paul Young and later returned to the stage alongside Bob Geldof, David Bowie and Pete Townshend to provide vocals on ‘Let It Be’. The same year Moyet won a Brit Award for ‘British Female Solo Artist’, a feat she repeated two years later! Other awards and nominations have followed during her successful music career, which has witnessed 10 solo studio albums, with the latest being last year’s ‘Key’ album. This being a celebration of her 40th year as a solo artist, gathering together a collection of 16 reworked singles, fan favourites and deep cuts as well as two new songs which combine to present a blazing showcase of the depth and breadth of her artistic creativity and songwriting. The songs that feature on ‘Key’ were all reimagined with the assistance of her producer, arranger and musical director Sean McGhee, who is on stage this evening with her, as well as Brendan Cox on guitar and keys. It’s just the three of them!
At 8:35pm the houselights are extinguished and then out of the darkness appear the trio who are already stationed on the podiums, where they remain for the duration of the 112 minute 21 song set. We immediately learn that Moyet is now based in Brighton (“How fantastic to be home!”) having graduated from Brighton University in 2023 with a first-class degree in Fine Art Printmaking BA (Hons). She notes that some of the uni friends are present this evening, which adds to the special vibe of the night, which concludes with a “Thank you for being my homies” at the end of the evening.
The trio are all clad in black, which for sometime has been Moyet’s go to colour and the same style of clothing was worn at my previous Moyet encounter at the Brighton Centre 4th February 2019, when she was special guest on the Tears For Fears tour. That night we only had eleven numbers, but tonight we get a deeper delve into her music and person as a whole. This evening’s fully seated sold out concert is an interesting watch and at times a fascinating insight into the person that arguably has been somewhat unaffected by everything that happens around her, or as Moyet puts it “The Impervious Me”.
They open with ‘Fire’ from 2007’s ‘The Turn’ album and we get our first dose of that powerful bluesy contralto voice. The sound in the venue is class as ever and the lighting is choreographed throughout. Moyet is centre stage on vocals and has two drinks flasks with her, the contents of which I know not. To her left (our right) is musical director Sean McGhee on synths, guitar, bass, and backing vocals; and on the opposite side is Brendan Cox on guitar and keys. They are all in a line and if there had been four of them, then they certainly would have looked more like electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. In fact I must confess how electronic sounding this evening’s set is. This is most welcome indeed.
Selection two is ‘More’ which is found on 2002’s ‘Hometime’ album and for this the lads switch from keys to guitar and bass. After which it’s here that she notices her uni mates and then the trio play ‘Such Small Ale’ from last October’s ‘Key’ album. She then takes it right back with a tune she informs us that she wrote whilst she was a teenager, this being ‘Nobody’s Diary’ from Yazoo’s 1983 ‘You And Me Both’ album. This receives the loudest cheer to date. ‘So Am I’ from 1994’s ‘Essex’ album is performed next for this evening’s mainly middle-aged clientele, as it’s here that my earlier inkling is confirmed, this being that with her accent and delivery it is rather similar to the legendary David Bowie. This for me is a recurring theme on the night and indeed highlights how far she has grown in confidence and stage presence. This is cemented with the arrival of ‘The Impervious Me’ which is found on the aforementioned ‘Key’ long-player. This is a truly solid new track and is rewarded with a massive applause!
There’s some drum machine sounding action on 2007’s ‘Can’t Say It Like I Mean It’ which is from her ‘The Turn’ album. The slower ‘This House’ from 1991’s ‘Hoodoo’ album is another great example of Moyet’s powerful vocal delivery. ‘Changeling’ from 2013’s ‘The Minutes’ album comes and goes and is followed by “a new one” which turned out to be ‘Tongue Tied’ from 2024 ‘Key’ album. These two reflect the changes in style with one being their rockiest of the set and the other offering that retro synthpop sound akin to something like China Crisis. The classic ‘Only You’ from Yazoo’s 1982 ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ album is performed next and is a firm crowd favourite.
After this Moyet surprises us with some interesting banter. In fact there’s banter in between most of the songs, which in this case, does add that extra layer of connection between artist and fans. We are informed that she is now going to give it a go on a harmonica. She informs us that when endeavouring to find one, the music shops had sold out on the account of the recent Bob Dylan film and so she had to order hers from Germany. She referred this to her “buskers moment” which apparently has been just the one tune on previous tour dates (tonight being date sixteen), but for tonight’s homecoming we are rewarded with two tunes, these being ‘Dorothy’ from 1994’s ‘Essex’ album and ‘Filigree’ from 2013’s ‘The Minutes’ album. For the former Brendan switches to acoustic guitar and Sean is solely on tambourine as it’s a quiet number. For ‘The Minutes’ which is a tender tune, there’s just the use of the bass and guitar with no backing. We also learn that the trio have been rehearing up the road at Brighton Electric recording studios on the Coombe Terrace section of Lewes Road. Imagine that! You’re a local band rehearsing and in walks Alison Moyet!! Roll out the red carpet!!
It’s back to business with the arrival of ‘Is This Love?’ from the ‘Raindancing’ album from 1987 and after which we are given ‘My Best Day’ which Moyet co-wrote with Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds for their 1994 ‘Jollification’ album and this has now has been rerecorded and released under Moyet’s own banner on last years ‘Key’ album. It’s a duet number and Sean fills in the Broudie lines. Moyet then informs us that the next number, ‘All Signs Of Life’ (from 2013’s ‘The Minutes’ album) was written about “long distance bike riding” and for me was certainly one of the set highlights of the evening on account of its very electronic beats. ‘Footsteps’ from 1991’s ‘Hoodoo’ album originally starts with the electronic sounding like The Human League’s ‘Being Boiled’ before morphing into a funky little number with an almost (but not quite) Crystal Waters ‘Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee)’ vibe, a song that also came out in 1991. However, I could have imagined this originally being a leftover from David Bowie’s 1982 era ‘Cat People (Putting Out Fire)’ sessions. The bossa nova beats of ‘All Cried Out’ from 1984’s ‘Alf’ album, took the trio to the encore.
The musicians returned to the stage and Moyet interestingly informed us that amazingly where she now lives in Brighton was the area, where she has since found out, some of her ancestors used to reside, and one of these actually died on consumption at the tender age of 26 and he lived at the end of her street! Moving on they launched into the sole co-penned Vince Clarke and Moyet corker that is ‘Situation’ from back in 1982. A song they are best known for in North America on account of the club and airplay success of the 12”remix by François Kevorkian, which came out on Sire records as Yaz and this import proudly sits in my record collection and is my fave tune featuring Moyet. This version was included on the U.S. version of Yazoo’s ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’ album. Not surprisingly it is the choice cut of the night for me! I’m not alone as almost everybody downstairs in the stalls got up out of their seats and danced to some degree. There was more dance action as ‘Love Resurrection’ from 1984’s ‘Alf’ album was up next and this was a decent rendition this evening which had an air of Heaven 17’s ‘Temptation’ about it. They signed off with the classic ‘Don’t Go’ from 1982’s ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ Yazoo album. It was a great song to end on. To be honest I was very pleasantly surprised how electronic this evening’s performance actually was. It seemed a far cry from the slower bluesy compositions such as ‘Winter Kills’. I will certainly be extremely keen in catching Moyet when she next plays live in Brighton. A great night out!
Alison Moyet:
Alison Moyet – vocals, harmonica
Sean McGhee – musical director, synths, guitar, bass, tambourine, bv’s
Brendan Cox – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys
Alison Moyet setlist:
‘Fire’ (from 2007 ‘The Turn’ album)
‘More’ (from 2002 ‘Hometime’ album)
‘Such Small Ale’ (from 2024 ‘Key’ album)
‘Nobody’s Diary’ (Yazoo song) (from 1983 ‘You And Me Both’ Yazoo album)
‘So Am I’ (from 1994 ‘Essex’ album)
‘The Impervious Me’ (from 2024 ‘Key’ album)
‘Can’t Say It Like I Mean It’ (from 2007 ‘The Turn’ album)
‘This House’ (from 1991 ‘Hoodoo’ album)
‘Changeling’ (from 2013 ‘The Minutes’ album)
‘Tongue Tied’ (from 2024 ‘Key’ album)
‘Only You’ (Yazoo song) (from 1982 ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ Yazoo album)
‘Dorothy’ (from 1994 ‘Essex’ album)
‘Filigree’ (from 2013 ‘The Minutes’ album)
‘Is This Love?’ (from 1987 ‘Raindancing’ album)
‘My Best Day’ (The Lightning Seeds cover) (from 2024 ‘Key’ album)
‘All Signs Of Life’ (from 2013 ‘The Minutes’ album)
‘Footsteps’ (from 1991 ‘Hoodoo’ album)
‘All Cried Out’ (from 1984 ‘Alf’ album)
(encore)
‘Situation’ (Yazoo song) (a 1982 Yazoo single)
‘Love Resurrection’ (from 1984 ‘Alf’ album)
‘Don’t Go’ (Yazoo song) (from 1982 ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ Yazoo album)
Support this evening came in the form of Scottish singer/songwriter/instrumentalist and poet Iona Zajac, a tall, softly spoken artist who took to the stage with an electric guitar and a synthesiser and charmed the audience with a wonderful half hour set.
Iona grew up in Edinburgh and has a hauntingly emotive sound, offering up a dramatic blend of genres – folk, indie and some mesmerising gaelic magic with lyrics steeped in themes of fractured love, bloody history, wild dreams, and unapologetic honesty.
Her performance was a masterclass in raw intensity and tender vulnerability. Opening with 2023 single ‘Summer Jubilee’ she captivated the crowd with her powerful yet measured voice, weaving a brittle, evocative tapestry of sound. Her songs dark undertones were offset by her light, engaging banter between tracks, a juxtaposition that showcased her ability to balance heaviness with warmth.
The Dome’s acoustics further enhanced the performance, the intensity of her voice soaring through the space with a clarity that felt both intimate and expansive, whilst red and yellow hues and some background smoke added to the intimate atmosphere. Think Enya meets All About Eve with a twist of Gothic magic and you’ll get the idea, her set was warmly received by those of the Brighton audience who’d arrived early to see it.
Iona Zajac:
Iona Zajac – vocals, guitar, synth
Iona Zajac setlist:
‘Rubbish Jubilee’ (a 2023 single)
‘Summer’ (a 2025 single)
‘Bowls’ (unreleased)
‘Bang’ (unreleased)
‘The Burning Of Auchindoun’ (a 2021 single with Daragh Lynch)
‘Murder Mystery’ (unreleased)
‘Dilute’ (unreleased)
