Return of the queen

Beth Orton brings the personal songs of her career-reviving album to NZ.

- RUSSELL BAILLIE

When Beth Orton first played in New Zealand at the 2000 Big Day Out, she was the odd woman out. She possibly possessed the only acoustic guitar in the entire venue, on a day headlined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails and the Chemical Brothers, the UK electronic duo who had helped introduce her voice to the world on their first two albums.

Orton played in the afternoon on one of the smaller stages to maybe 100 of us in a set that was all elfin smile, delicate songs, and yearning voice. She looked mildly amused being the sweet folky lull before the 90s rock storm. Her early albums of "folktronica" had got her labelled "the comedown queen" - morning-after music after a big night out.

"I was really nervous when I played there," she says of that tour from her home in London. It followed the breakthrough of albums Trailer Park and Central Reservation. No, she doesn't remember anything much from that first excursion but "I might have photographic evidence". Nor does she remember her second foray, a 2013 solo tour when she played in churches on both sides of the Tasman.