March 16, 2007 6:58

The Gossip show naked talent at SXSW

Beth Ditto strips down for club show

The Gossip's frontwoman Beth Ditto stripped down to her undies at the band's SXSW show tonight (March 15).

The three-piece gave it their all in front of a packed house filled with old friends and new at Austin's Emo's.

The Arkansas trio played several tracks from their most recent album, 'Standing In The Way of Control', as well as a few covers, including Tina Turner's 'What's Love Got To Do With It' and an excerpt from Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

"We love Emo's!" frontwoman Beth Ditto shouted to the crowd before giving high-fives to the folks in the front row.

"Now let's see what we can do together!" challenged the powerhouse singer.

As always Ditto was full of surprises, stripping off her long black wig midway through the set and throwing it into the audience.

You can see more pictures from the show on our blog News Vulture now.

She didn't stop there. During the next song, she took off her blue dress and shimmied across the stage completely unselfconscious, wearing nothing but her black underwear.

A woman jumped up onto the stage to dance with Ditto, who grabbed her hand and welcomed her along for the ride. "Sisterhood is powerful," she said, and her adoring fan literally bowed down at her feet.

The Gossip concluded their set with the album's title track and a message urging everyone to "take care of one another".

After the show, Ditto told NME.COM: "It was great that there were lots of dykes in the audience tonight. It was also great to see some homoeroticism going on, as well as the 'normal people' getting their groove on."

For all the latest blogs, gossip and news live from SXSW, check out NME.COM/newmusic.