Lady Sovereign leaves Los Angeles out in the cold

February 6, 2009, at the Echo

By Melissa Bobbitt
Published: February 9th, 2009 | 10:00am

Lady Sovereign may be the self-proclaimed “biggest midget in the game,” but her lackluster performance at this tiny L.A. alcove suggests she needs to step it up if she wants to remain relevant among soul sisters like M.I.A. and Santogold.

The gig was cursed from the get-go: It was originally scheduled for the previous week, but the British Sov (nee Louise Harman) had visa problems. On this night, Southern California got drenched by uncharacteristic amounts of rain, and the Echo’s doors opened an hour late. (At least the soggy audience entertained itself. One drunken harpy pulled her turtleneck dress over her head, dancing as if she’d ingested about two tabs of Ecstasy too many.) The opening act, the rapper’s DJ Frampster, failed to motivate the crowd — even the venue’s piped-in music selection was more rollicking than his compilations.

After the collective patience wore thin, the little Lady took to the stage in a smiley-face shirt and knitted ursine cap. “I’m Trouble Panda,” she deadpanned, taking yet another cue from Slim Shady by adapting an alter alter ego. Hey, they don’t call her “Feminem” for nothing. Whether she was flipping the bird, aggressively grabbing her own breasts, or using tongue-in-cheek braggadocio, she wore Marshall Mathers’ influence on her sleeve.

Blame it on the rain, or perhaps her own biology (she crassly informed everyone she was on her period), but there was something missing. Authenticity? (She rhymed over Frampster’s prerecorded vocal tracks, too often letting the fans take the reigns.) Sobriety? (Seemed she was more intent on guzzling her Coronas than really giving the concert her all.) Self-esteem? (The petite provocateur removed her hat once, but replaced it because she lamented a bad hair day; she also clung to her puffy jacket like Linus’ security blanket, until she relented and gave it to an admirer.) Her gusto did grow with more familiar tunes such as “Public Warning,” where she doused the front row with beer, and the final song of the night, “Random.” But previews off her upcoming album, Jigsaw (, were muddy: The Cure-sampling “So Human” stripped her of bravado… and, unfortunately, her bite.

After all the calamity leading up to the show, Lady Sovereign’s return to Los Angeles was, alas, a little damp.

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page.

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Review of Lady Sovereign’s Public Warning
A timeline of women in hip-hop