Halloween Spooktacular

It seamed very appropriate to be at a Werewolf Promotions event on 31st October – and there was a chance of a ghostly appearance of a headless apparition at The Old Queen’s Head in Islington…

Downstairs a double bill of Ghost Busters was playing to a fairly full bar – but the best show was going on upstairs with three live acts.

From FOE, D&C and Brother Gang 2011

Opening the evening with added “Gang” and the S dropped were Brother Gang – a young all female quintet hailing from Norwich Their drums and guitars, with everyone contributing to the vocals produced a raw sound, pleasantly balancing between punk and rock. They also have a great line in banter while the guitars are re-tuned, something many other musicians struggle with – sometimes there might even have been a little too much information! The highlight of the set was Horses – and the recently filmed video to accompany it sounds equally entertaining… One tip – for better pictures and fewer trip hazards you’ll need to work out a better arrangement for the forest of mic stands!

Dimbleby & Capper’s concession to the fact that it was All Hallows Eve was skeleton make up for their dancers. The audience by their set also contained a growing number of participants in the evenings fancy dress… Yet again D&C’s well produce show brought a sound that had elements of Goldfrapp and Siouxsie and the Banshees – or maybe that was a spiritual contribution… Anyone wishing to sample their experimental electronic pop should catch them at the Queen of Hoxton supporting Juan Maclean on Bonfires night…

The last act of the night, taking on board the ghostly theme whole heartedly were FOE.  They took the punk element from Brother Gang and mixed it with the electronic pop of D&C, mashing in guitar too. Then it was out into the night to avoid the trick or treaters plying Islington’s main street….

Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Changed the Music

Replacing Britney after her two night stay for their own two nights were the Arctic Monkey supported by The Vaccines – and the contrast couldn’t have been greater – there was absolutely nothing synthetic about the sound filling the venue from start to finish…

From Arctic Monkeys 2011

The Vaccines brought their take on British guitar based rock to the O2, adding a little punk to the mix – very different to the sound I’d heard from Justin Young as Jay Jay Pistolet a few years ago in the same venue supporting Katie Melua. For a band only just about to celebrate the anniversary of their first single release the sound was mature and it can’t be long before they will be headlining similar venues in their own right… With their first four studio Albums all having reached No 1 in the UK, the Arctic Monkeys clearly have a large fan base in the UK and I suspect they could have easily filled the O2 for more nights… By the time they came on stage there was a buzz building up – and as soon as they engaged their guitars the crowd were fully with them – mush pits formed – the largest of which must have briefly cleared a quarter of the space in front of the sound desks – quite an achievement given the packed standing area… I don’t recall a single song from the 21 strong set list that seamed out of place – the strong start with “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” continued right through to 505 that closed the evening – all as rock and roll as Alex Turners Elvis quiff…

Both of the night’s acts proved beyond doubt that live rock music is alive and kicking in the UK and quite capable of filling the largest of venues for multiple nights – even in these tough economic times….

Britney’s Final Finale?

Britney spears returned to the O2 with another tour – Femme Fatale – this time for only two nights – rather than the 8 nights of her mini residence in 2009 with the Circus tour…

From Britney 2011 (Thursday)

Destinee & Paris provided the opening act and their upbeat pop soon warmed up the audience on both nights under the dome.

From Britney 2011 (Friday)

The main support act was one of the Jonas Brothers – who along with his brothers had caused so much disruption by attracting an enormous crowd of teenage girls round the hotel I’d chosen last year for my stay in Sao Paulo. Joe Jonas brought a rock element to the nights, complete with live drums and synths. I’m not entirely sure Joe on his own would have drawn the crowds he would along with his brothers – but together they’d probably have been the headliners rather then the support act…

Britney’s show started, right on queue from the 30 minute countdown that started as Joe left the stage – unlike Jay-Z’s countdown there wasn’t a deva like last minute jump back in time… Anyone who’d read the reviews or attended the Circus tour, who was still expecting a truly live show was in for a disappointment.. That isn’t Britney – her music is finely tuned in a studio – she didn’t learn her trade in the small venues many others do, leaping straight to the top, bypassing that experience…. What she does is produce a show to go with her albums and use her back catalogue to great effect. In comparison to the Circus tour, this time round there appeared to be a little less budget – not even enough for a runway, really required at the O2 to bring the entertainment to the middle of what is an enormous venue. There were also fewer costume changes, and the on stage vehicle was based on a mini rather than something more elaborate…

While Britney appeared to be enjoying herself, she appeared to be less energetic than I recall her being under her Circus top two years ago. On the couple of occasions she did appear to sing live, for some of the less produced ballads it was rather faltering and not entirely up to the level you’d expect of someone headlining the O2. There are many fresh acts capable of selling many more tickets to the O2 than Britney currently is, and I wonder if this might be her last major tour for some time… Having said that, at the end of the both nights the audience were still cheering for more - there may not have been too much, if any, live music in the traditional sense - but there had been two night of entertainment that Britney's London fans, and from further a field had totally enjoyed. The critics may not have thought much of it - but they aren't the primary audience - and by cutting back on the number of nights, there was plenty of demand from Britney's loyal fans to fill the venue with a audience willing to over look the lack of a real band or even backing singers…

Bears hold off Bucks as Jet Lag appears to catch up…

From NFL @ Wembley 2011

76,981 NFL fans, of every team in the league, almost filled Wembley Stadium, London, UK and witnessed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers almost pull off an unlikely come back – keeping the game alive until the closing 30 seconds when a desperate attempt to keep a potentially game winning drive down the pitch going was intercepted to bring to an end a game that had at one point looked like it might be an easy win on their rather longer than usual travels for the Chicago Bears.

The final score of 24-18 was a fair reflection of a game that had had a faltering start – one early down taking a dozen plays before being punted up the pitch. Maybe the effects of jet lag needed to be shaken off – but once out of the first quarter the Bears took control with three answered touch downs – with the Bucks only managing safety and field goal in response.. Then in the fourth quarter the Bucks came to life – or did the Bears defence succumb to the effects of jet lag? Twice In quick succession the bucks crossed into the end zone, bring themselves within a field goal of taking the game into over time at 21-18 – then the Bears managed to get within field goal range themselves and pull six points ahead – making the Bucks strive for a touch down in the final minutes of the game, which proved just beyond them.

This was the fifth time the razzle dazzle of the NFL had been brought across the Atlantic to London, and despite the tight economy Wembley was almost sold out – there has been talk of more than one London game in future seasons and even of a Super Bowl. If the NFL can persuade teams of the calibre of  the Bucks and Bears to take part there will be a healthy audience – and the Super Bowl has the advantage that neither side has to give up a home game to take part as it’s highly unusual for one of the Super Bowl teams to happen also to be that year’s host franchise for the season closer.

Q'ing round the block for Q Awards Gig

The fourth night of the Q Award’s Gigs in the run up to Q Magazine’s 25th anniversary awards was headlined by Ed Sheeran – and he certainly brought his fans out early – it wasn’t quite as cold as it had been on the previous couple of nights – but it was still a brave audience that were queuing round three corners by the time the doors opened – with people joining almost as fast as security could let people in once they where open!

From Ed Sheeran 2011

Unfortunately much of the audience missed some or all of the opening act, We Were Evergreen, because we where still queuing outside - despite being there well before the doors were due to open... I'd suggest venues need to be able to beef up their entrance teams if faced by an early arriving audience - it is only fair to try your best to get them into the venue before the openers come on stage... From the end of their set that I heard, this trio hailing from France where a little out of their depth with such a large audience so excited about the headliner – would be interesting to listen to them in a smaller venue with a less distracted audience…

By the time Ed's main support act, Emeli Sandé, came on stage security had managed to get most, if not all of the audience into the venue. While many of Ed's fans might not have heard of Emeli, her powerful vocal soon had their attention! Ed later confided that one of the reasons he’d accepted the gig was so that he could book Emeli to support him – whether the choice was his to make or not, Emeli captivated the audience. She’ll soon be headlining her own tour, and with her contribution to Professor Green’s current hit is one to watch for the future.

Unusually, the preparation for the headliner consisted of emptying the stage except for a pedal board and two orange mics… Ed Sheeran looked a little lonely on the stage with only his guitar – but he would remedy that with three guests, and by filling the venue with his voice, guitar and clever use of the pedal board. Moving between all the genres in Ed’s range from acoustic rock to R&B Ed demonstrated why he’s nominated for Q’s breakthrough artist award as well as best male artist and best video.  Ed then introduced Pixie Lott who’d played the same series of gigs earlier in the week – their duet of Kiss Me meet a mixed reaction with Ed’s die hard fans who’d queued round the block to see him, rather than Pixie – but it demonstrated both Pixie and Ed range – contrasting with more upbeat style both usually perform. Ed’s next collaboration of the night was with Wiley, changing things up by mixing rap with Ed’s more mellow sound. The reception with Ed’s mostly student fan’s was good – the success of Professor Green and Emeli Sandé current collaboration demonstrate how popular mixing rap with other genres has become… The last collaboration of the night added Example to the length list of top talent that had graced the stage during the evening. The remix of You Changed the way you Kiss Me had the audience in the palm of the artists hands.

As the audience left the venue, most would have felt that the long queue in the Autumn chill had been well worth the wait – any that didn’t where at the wrong gig or very hard to please.

I predict the Forum will be rocking

It was clear that the sound tonight was going to be big – The Kaiser Chiefs had supplemented the venue’s own sound system with even larger stacks of their own speakers…

From Kaiser Chiefs 2011

This was the 3rd of the Q Awards gigs 2011 presented by Q Magazine – and it was clearly rock night! The night started with the first of two support acts - Spector. It was nice to see a male guitar based rock band trying to differentiate themselves from the hundreds struggling to make a space for themselves in a crowded genre. Suited and booted they got the crowd rocking, frequently introducing themselves to the growing crowd, in preparation for what was to follow…

Duke Spirit interacted a lot less with the now full venue - but Liela Moss’ vocals combined with talents on keyboard and the other members of the band continued building the atmosphere towards the headliners, who's backdrop dominated the stage…

From Kaiser Chiefs 2011

You could guess that there was going to be lots of energy on and off the stage, when a stage hand was carefully marking up, with hi-vis masking tape the edges of the speakers that could be stood on, and with large crosses those that won't support a band member! Ricky Wilson was soon confirming this – one song was performed with him standing on the crush barriers at the front of the mush pit, supported by his belt by two large members of the stage crew. Towards the end of the set he made his way to one of the balconies in the HMV forum between downstairs standing and the upstairs seating usually reserved for bouncers observing the crowd, crossing amongst those seated (or not) upstairs to the opposite side… I Predict a Riot had the crowd at full voice, and the mush pit in full motion. Returning to the stage for their encore Love’s Not a Competition and Oh My God brought the house down.

The difficult bridge to the second album….

The Q Awards 2011 gigs at the HMV Forum, Kentish Town, continued with Pixie Lott…

From Pixie Lott 2011

Making the jump to a second album, at the same time as the artist and their audience are maturing musically can be a tricky point in an artist’s career. Pixie is at that stage, and having finished her first headline tour last year, promoting her first album Turn It Up , this one off gig was a chance for her to try out some new material in front of a friendly audience. Being a one off it was very much stripped back, without the multiple costume changes and theatrics of the tour – allowing her musical talents to take centre stage. Of the new material, I felt Stevie on the Radio was the most successful – although whether all of those in the audience had ever heard Steve Wonder has to be asked – some of them haven’t matured as fast as Pixie’s sound has… Illustrated by the late arrivals who thought they have a right to steam to the front. It is a great argument for a well policed golden circle for those fans dedicated enough to be at the front of the queue, braving the cold onset of autumn, to get in early, they usually also forgo the bar to maintain prime spots. They might be a little naive treasuring a little space in front of them that is the envy of others.  There did appear to be two styles of material – a pop sound and a more club sound – Pixie may need to choose between the two to produce an cohesive album… Trying out new material is always a risk – but Pixie has an first album loved by her fans to fall back on and can certainly power out the tracks from that collection - Gravity when down particularly well.

Anyone treated to 2 hours of Jazz and power pop by Jamie Cullum the previous night might have felt a little cheated by the rather shorter set from Pixie – unless they’d bought their tickets via the 2 for 1 that had managed to fill the venue to a respectable extent – but Jamie is a multi-album performer with a significant catalogue – while Pixie is trying to make the jump to having multiple successful albums – judging by the new material she has a fighting chance of making that leap… Most people venturing back out in the the cold of autumn appears to be happy – perhaps with the exception of a few who’d had their hard earned views at the front stolen by a thoughtless few…

Twenty, no make that Thirty something

From Jamie Cullum 2011

Jamie Cullum may no longer be a twenty something, and returning to gigging following the birth of his first child - which he quickly pointed out was mainly not his own hard work - he confessed his enthusiastic jumping around the wasn’t quite as easy to combine with singing now, but he still left the other contributors to the 2011 Q Awards at the HMV Forum with a hard act to follow. I’d been surprised to find myself queuing round the block, even only minutes after the doors officially opened – that is usually something that only happens for act with much younger appeal. The audience was a great mix of young and older music lovers – all there to enjoy Jamie’s mix of Jazz, power pop and soul. He didn’t disappoint – one of many highlights of the evening was an impressive piece of audience participation, with three parts for the audience – which was then repeated to induce yet another encore from Jamie at the end of the evening…

Too Much, Too Little, Too Late

From Johnny Mathis 2011

When you pay £50+, the least you can expect is good sound – especially in a venue such as the O2, with a wealth of experience of setting up for a wide variety of acts… Hence my disappointment that Johnny Mathis’ performance was scared by an echo from the back of the half full O2… I’ve been to multiple event where the arena has been configured without the vertigo inducing 4th level – none of which have suffered in this way. A loud rock act might have over come it – but the subtly of Johnny’s music was lost when you got a second hearing reflecting off the back of the dome… Having said that my expectations had already been lowered by the fact that rather than a musical support act, there would be a comedian supporting Johnny between two short sets from him…  But Jeff Stevenson’s act was actual warming – totally un-offensive, but with good gags about the London tube and Little Chefs…

The night will lead to a slight adjunct to my “try any artist I’ve heard of” policy – don’t over invest in acts you’ve not heard before, that are on their way down rather than potentially up – the real shame is that I missed out on another gig which I’m sure would have been better, from an act looking to build a career rather than, by Johnny’s own admission, fund a golf trip to Europe! I wish he’d invested a little more in the sound engineer and system so those paying top dollar for the night could listen without the echo! I’m sure the O2 has enough equipment and technology to have been able to perfect the sound for the venue.

No need for the London fear – just learn to breathe on your own…

From Nerina Pallot 2011

Nerina selected Jen Armstrong as the opening act for her return to the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire at the end of her UK tour as the best performer of a cover of Turn Me on Again on YouTube – and Jen didn’t let her down… Looking a little alone on the stage with just a keyboard as support, she soon filled the venue with her soulful Yorkshire pop/rock vocals.

Adding a little country to the pop theme of the night, Jodie Marie quickly replaced Jen on stage – causing a rapid return from the bar for some of the audience!  I’ve not previously been to a gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire where the audience paid so much attention to the supporting acts – maybe the change to seating rather than standing in the stalls and allocated seating had something to do with that – but the quality of the performances was a big contributing factor.

I’d previously heard Narina at the launch of her fourth album, Year Of The Wolf, surrounded by fans who’d gained their free tickets by pre-ordering the album, in the much more intimate and smaller Borderline – it was similar audience that occupied the first few rows of seating…. After opening with Butterfly Nerina confessed she was no Tony Bennett when it came to her patter between songs – that maybe the case but musically she’s got a comparable range – from the subtlety of If I lost you now, via the pop of covers of Kylie (Is it a cover if you wrote and produced the song for the princess of pop?) and Beyonce to the rock of Everyone’s Gone to War, then the comedy/romance of Geek Love… Not sure HR would condone Nerina’s encouragement for “Geek Love” of those on an office outing wishing to avoid a long journey home by allowing beer goggles to determine if the night could end at someone's  home closer to the office… By the end of the night, having earlier confided that her previous gig at the same venue had ended badly and that she’d suffered from “London fear” – a phenomenon were artist dread the leg of their tour in the capital because of the reputation of the London audience to be rather cold and critical, Nerina had clearly over come both barriers and brought the tour to a storming conclusion.

One comment on the night is that I’m not sure if the choice of a seated layout for the stalls was the right one – it felt wrong being seated for many of the up beat periods of Nerina’s performance… The questions that remain are – will Nerina ever make it to Idaho – and has she really been on the road to Damascus? The second is a little off the tourist track at the moment, but any venue in Idaho could do much worse than extend an invitation for Nerina to end her drive at their establishment.