Tag Archives: Altered Images

Altered Images, The Grove, Newcastle,16 September 2026

Zoe Graham opened the show at this atmospheric and welcoming venue. Playing songs from her LP ‘Tent’, accompanied by her guitar and ‘virtual’ backing, her Glasgow roots and warm personality gave a strong identity to the songs.

Altered Images chose to play the full version of 1981 debut album ‘Happy Birthday’, featuring the glorious touchstone title track and the glowering brilliance of ‘Insects’. The second half of the set was a reminder of how good their back catalogue is; ‘Don’t Talk to Me About Love’, ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Dead Pop Stars’ and ‘See Those Eyes’ were all gems delivered with sparkle by enthusiastic lead singer Clare Grogan and her excellent band.

Altered Images | Official Website (alteredimagesband.com)

Zoe Graham (zoegrahammusic.com)

Altered Images, Junction J1, Cambridge, 28 October 2024

Vanity Fairy warmed up the audience with a set of ballads and uptempo tracks, including her catchy new single ‘Top of the Pops’, all echoing the heyday of disco in the late 70s and after.

After two hit jangly indiepop albums in the 80s Altered Images developed their recorded sound into the glossy sheen and lusher instrumentation of long-player ‘Bite’, performed in its entirety as the first half of this set. Singer Clare Grogan was on fine form, with plenty of reminiscence and chat with the crowd as the performance showed the nuances and strong song writing of the collection, including the big hit ‘Don’t Talk to Me About Love’ and ending with the dreampop of ‘Thinking About You’

After a short break the band returned with a hits set featuring signature track ‘I Could Be Happy’, the more recent ‘Mascara Streakz’ and the towering edgy brilliance of ‘Dead Pop Stars’. The finale to this excellent show was of course the chartbusting ‘Happy Birthday’, a song destined to be played forever…

http://www.alteredimagesband.com/

https://vanityfairy.bandcamp.com/