8th July – Somerset House Summer Series presented by American Express with What Next Live: Katy B supported by Devlin, Ms Dynamite and P Money and What Next Live – including Kimmy Reader, Rhea Dean and Tom Prior
Regularly giving an opportunity on one of the Sunday’s of the series for up and coming acts to take to the stage is a great innovation that Somerset House continues to provide – this year three of the act from What Next Live shone out – Kimmy Reader, Rhea Dean or Tom Prior could easily have been “headline support acts” – maybe it is time for a slight change to the presentation of these acts and simply put them on as support acts for some of the nights of the series. I’ll be looking out for and looking forward to when these acts perform again.
| Katy B brought the acts from her 2011 headline tour with her to Somerset House for her only headline show of the year. I’ve never been sure if a DJ based set works in the classical surroundings of Somerset House – and P Money definitely struggled to keep up the atmosphere that the What Next acts had built up – his act had worked in an enclosed space – but in the daylight, in an open space it seamed not to fill the space sufficiently. | |
| | When Ms Dynamite took to the stage the energy levels lifted – it was still rather strange to be experiencing this in the open air before the dark had fallen. The large separation between the audience and the stage also wasn’t helping |
| Devlin's addition of instruments in the form of a full band to the stage took the show up a further level. | |
| | The sun had set by the time Katy B took to the stage, that allowed the light show on the stage to have a bigger impact, and with the venue now full the atmosphere was approaching a club – or as close as you can get surrounded by the 18th century architecture of Somerset House.
A cover of the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams stood out in a set that ranged from Katy’s better known dance tracks to slower ballads showing there is more to her than just dubstep.
The 11pm curfew came far too early – and closing with Lights On seamed very appropriate as the house lights shortly followed, but the audience didn’t want to leave. |
No comments:
Post a Comment