Monday 28 February 2011
Mona, Highbury Garage, 21 Feb 2011
The set was very frontloaded with songs I knew (the singles), which made the latter part of it, relatively disappointing, although it was a really good tight set. The man in front of us went mad for every song. The friend he had accompanying him enjoyed it, evening if he wasn't quite as mad about it.
Neon Trees, Highbury Garage, 21 Feb 2011
Good show, with a great frontman and top muscianship. Made me think of Queen and British mid-90s Glam bands like Spacehog.
They completely won crowd around and people seem to really enjoy it, which they band seemed to feed off. It felt like they could have done an encore if they hadn't been a support band. It may have been a bit of a show, but they seemed to think they only had two songs left, but played three more in the end.
Really enjoyed the set. Realised afterwards that I knew 'Animal' and now keep hearing it.
They completely won crowd around and people seem to really enjoy it, which they band seemed to feed off. It felt like they could have done an encore if they hadn't been a support band. It may have been a bit of a show, but they seemed to think they only had two songs left, but played three more in the end.
Really enjoyed the set. Realised afterwards that I knew 'Animal' and now keep hearing it.
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Shepherd's Bush Empire, 15 February 2011
Great setlisting and arrangements. Very tight band and great instrumentation. Isobel seem to be suffering from a sore throat, but her performance didn't. Voices melded wonderfully live.
Rather charmingly, the guitarist on the right stuck his tongue out when he began the tricky bits of slide playing.
'Circus is Leaving Town' was very good and a real high point of the early part of the set. Also 'Bird in the Wood' (I think) was great. Brooding, hypnotic. Excellent. And 'Something to Believe' - lovely and delicate, and good whistling from Isobel, too!
The set really captivated the audience. The last section of the set was more uptempo, which got the toes tapping. Over all the set had a great sound a variety of tone and pace to keep the audience engaged.
I felt really glad that Mark has managed to keep up a career as a singer for so long. It would be a loss to the musical world if he stopped doing interesting music that people wanted to hear enough to allow him to travel the world and play it to lots of people.
Rather charmingly, the guitarist on the right stuck his tongue out when he began the tricky bits of slide playing.
'Circus is Leaving Town' was very good and a real high point of the early part of the set. Also 'Bird in the Wood' (I think) was great. Brooding, hypnotic. Excellent. And 'Something to Believe' - lovely and delicate, and good whistling from Isobel, too!
The set really captivated the audience. The last section of the set was more uptempo, which got the toes tapping. Over all the set had a great sound a variety of tone and pace to keep the audience engaged.
Sea of Beas, Shepherd's Bush Empire, 15 February 2011
The first song was quite striking, but they became more conventional through the set.
The band was two women, with one acoustic and one electric guitar. The woman on the left sang in a strange falsetto, a bit Sigur Ros.
Some lyrics even a bit cliched, though through focus of strange voice seemed more interesting than they might otherwise have been. An interesting set, but I wasn't wholly won over.
The band was two women, with one acoustic and one electric guitar. The woman on the left sang in a strange falsetto, a bit Sigur Ros.
Some lyrics even a bit cliched, though through focus of strange voice seemed more interesting than they might otherwise have been. An interesting set, but I wasn't wholly won over.
Go! Team, Heaven, 8 February 2011
Go! Team got the crowd dancing on a Tuesday night. What more is there to say?
Heaven was a great venue for Go! Team as it is on the intimate side for a club. The sold out gig was packed full of people in the kind of good mood that the Go! Team's music is supposed to engender.
It was a different kind of atmosphere to what you may normally find at a week night gig, everyone was having a great time and far from staring at their shoes the band got the crowd dancing, singing along and putting their hands in the air from the first song.
The band was very tight, and remember the band's origins from a first album of samples which was then recreated with a real life band.
It didn't matter that we didn't know all material as the songs from the new album had a similar good time feel to them. This also meant that the audience were into the whole set, not just their favourite old songs. This really contributed to the spirited atmosphere.
Heaven was a great venue for Go! Team as it is on the intimate side for a club. The sold out gig was packed full of people in the kind of good mood that the Go! Team's music is supposed to engender.
It was a different kind of atmosphere to what you may normally find at a week night gig, everyone was having a great time and far from staring at their shoes the band got the crowd dancing, singing along and putting their hands in the air from the first song.
The band was very tight, and remember the band's origins from a first album of samples which was then recreated with a real life band.
It didn't matter that we didn't know all material as the songs from the new album had a similar good time feel to them. This also meant that the audience were into the whole set, not just their favourite old songs. This really contributed to the spirited atmosphere.
I Am Kloot, Shepherd's Bush Empire, January 28th 2011
Having seen them play to a handful of people at the Oxford Zodiac 10 years ago, it was like a personal celebration to see them pack out a Friday night gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire.
They played a mixture of old nd new songs from their ten-years-plus of material, all of which were fantastically well received. They were joined by a brass section and strings.
We didn't know quite a few of the new ones, but they were played very well, so didn't mind. Very pleased to hear them play Same Deep Water As Me. And Proof was blinding. Crowd were really into show, creating a great atmosphere.
They played a mixture of old nd new songs from their ten-years-plus of material, all of which were fantastically well received. They were joined by a brass section and strings.
We didn't know quite a few of the new ones, but they were played very well, so didn't mind. Very pleased to hear them play Same Deep Water As Me. And Proof was blinding. Crowd were really into show, creating a great atmosphere.
Saturday 5 February 2011
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