You Don’t Have To Go: Alison Moyet @ Numbers

This may not mean a whole lot to some of the folks who read this, but I did a total double-take when I happened to glance up at the Numbers sign the other night, on my way in to that epic Recession Thursdays show: 10/18 Alison Moyet. Wha?

My wife happens to be a huge Alison Moyet fan, so over the years I’ve heard bits & pieces of pretty much her entire catalogue, from her albums with Yaz all the way through to 2004’s Voice (apparently there’s a 2007 album, too, The Turn, but I have yet to hear it). I initially dismissed her as more of the lame-ass ’80s crap I couldn’t wait to escape from at the end of that decade, but by and by, the wife’s turned me around.

I still don’t get that much into her earlier stuff, admittedly, mostly because the production is typical synth-pop crap, but damn, that voice was pretty incredible, even then. In more recent days, I think she’s gotten better, if anything — Hometime, in particular, is an awesome, awesome album where Moyet pretty much turns from rough-edged bluesy diva into a torch singer and makes it work. “You Don’t Have To Go” makes me crumble every time. She’s dark as hell, gritty, moody, and murky, and it’s pretty great.

Anyway, trust me: this is going to be a good one. The kind fellow I spoke with at Numbers didn’t know a lot about the show, saying it was being set up by some booking group up in Dallas w/the club just being used as the venue, but he guessed that the tickets would be in the $20-$25 range. A bit steep, yeah, but hell, I don’t know when Moyet last came through Houston, if ever (Yaz reunited for a tour last year, but they skipped us), so it might be a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

You can buy presale tix starting today, if you’re so inclined — the price listed on the Ticketweasel site, though, is higher than I’d thought it might be ($39!), so you might want to wait & see if it gets any better later on…