Gill Hicks has lived two lives. In both, she's sung jazz. “Feel the city breakin', and everybody shakin', and we're staying alive,” she sings in her lovely rich alto, transforming the iconic Bee Gees disco hit into something more hypnotic and — given this 20th anniversary week of the London 7/7 bombings, and her attendant emotional and physical journey — infinitely more poignant.
Flanked by Dylan Paul on upright bass and Julian Ferraretto on keening violin and ethereal musical saw, and with huge images of her colourful artwork projected onto the wall behind her, the South Australian-born Hicks delivers her songs seated, an elegant hand on her transparent cane, her black tulle skirt flowing down over no-nonsense black bovver boots. A pair of prosthetic feet sit at the front of the stage, toenails painted, skin henna-ed, their very separateness carrying symbolic weight.
