NME Awards Tour - Crystal Castles, Magnetic Man, Everything Everything, The Vaccines - O2 Academy Brixton - 19/02/11

There are few things you could have crowbarred onto the poster for this gig to make me more excited. The most exciting new guitar band in Britain? A dubstep supergroup with a massive live reputation? An era defining band who, from all reports I'd heard, were one of the greatest live bands on the planet? And Everything Everything whose set I could have a little rest in midway through? Awesome.

This gig had nothing but "brilliant" written all over it. It was my first time going to Brixton Academy and I loved it as soon as I arrived, from the outside to the foyer to the inner sanctum. Despite a few hitches in the journey up there (which nearly involved a lift to Wimbledon from a pikey who's blown a speaker in his car from excessive dubstep abuse) my friends and I managed to perch ourselves just a little behind the barrier, slap bang in the middle of the pit.

I wasn't quite sure what reception The Vaccines would get, but I was hoping it was going to be a big one. They were the first act so of course the reception wasn't immediately amazing, it never is. But the crowd got better and better as set went on, and by the time we reached the brilliant "If You Wanna", the ground was alive with jumping, thrashing, flailing and singing. I was amazed that the opening act ended up with such a reaction, and it was clear that tunes like "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" and "Post-Breakup Sex" had the audience enthralled. I've got a huge hankering to see these guys at one of their own gigs now.



I've never been majorly fussed about Everything Everything; their music's far too jam packed for me, they end up striking me as a cross between Herbie Hancock and a Klaxons tribute act. Having said that, they were a fantastic live act. Brilliant energy, a surprising number of big fans in the audience, it was great, even if the frantic, pernickety nature of the music didn't quite translate. The big sinalong choruses of The Vaccines were traded for mock scat singing where I was. I would probably have enjoyed their set a lot more if the crowd didn't decide to become a bunch of douche bags during it. I'm a huge fan of moshing and leaping around, but Everything Everything's whole set was just full of pointless, slow pushing, two idiots dressed in tiger suits shoving around like utter morons. The crowed spaced out for a dance off where I was and one dude casually whipped out a backflip which was pretty cool, but it sadly didn't make up for the immense douchebaggery of the rest of the crowed where I was. Still, never mind!

I was incredibly excited for Magnetic Man. I've never really listened to them a great deal, but what I had heard I liked, and I'd heard they were a great live act. Needless to say, they exceed all possible expectations. They were one of the greatest live acts I've ever seen! The songs filled the place to the brim, the whole audience bouncing, swaying and jumping to their massive, sublime dubstep sounds. "I Need Air" and "Fire" were HUGE, the crowed were wild, and things reached anthemic fever pitch when they busted out "Getting Nowhere" and Jonathan from Everything Everything took to the stage to sing what would normally be John Legend's vocal line. Their whole set was sensational. The bass was overwhelming, made me trousers shake and my chest quiver. There were a few especially brilliant moments where me and those around me just went "OH!" when the perfect frequency rumbled through us. However, the thing that made their set was undoubtedly their guest MC, Sgt Pokes. Lollopping around the stage like some ghoulish, dreadlocked yeti, his banter with the crowd was sublime ("I SAY MAGNETIC, YOU SAY MAN!"), he had the crowed rapped around his finger. And he had the single most terrifying laugh I have ever heard. That man should be a Bond villain.



And then. Oh and then. Then came Crystal Castles. Crystal Castles' live reputation preceded them like an Aladdin style parade. With glowsticks. And trumpets, big ones. It was clear that everyone in there was ridiculously hyped. There were euphoric cheers as the backdrop was lowered, depicting their album cover. Frantic shoving flooded the pit, everyone vying for position. And eventually, inevitably, they arrived. Ethan Kath and the band's live drummer loomed out onto the stage, taking their place behind sound decks and drum kit respectively. Alice Glass, the oh so desriable and frickin' crazy frontwoman, was nowhere to be seen. The lights lowered, and a wiry, shadowy figure was discernible in the gloom. The distinctive sound of opener "Fainting Spells" began to pump through the venue. The lights started flashing. And there she was, stage left. Staggering on, on crutches because of her sprained ankle, like a Satanic marionette. One crutch soon disappeared, the grabbed the microphone and the greatest live band I have ever seen began to tear the place apart. The whole set was one intense, throbbing, terrifying assault on the senses. And it was amazing. Alice Glass hopped and thrashed around the stage, the only woman to ever make a foot brace look badass and terrifyingly sexy. By the time she was (admittedly inaudibly) screeching out the chorus to the fan favourite "Baptism", the second song of the set, we were already under her spell. She went from hopping to crawling around the stage, thrashing and bouncing on the floor, to finally leaning into the crowd in the closing number, where every hand within fifty metres started stretching out for her like zombies punching out of the grave. Exaggerated hyperbole you say? Perhaps. But I've never seen a frontwoman whip up a crowd like that. Ethan Kath remained as brooding and taciturn as one would expect, but I think I detected a wee smile playing around his lips at one point. Maybe. The harsh, glitchy noise didn't exactly result in cheery singalongs, and I think there were very few people who could tell exactly what song was playing at any one time. But that's irrelevant.

Every other act tonight was fantastic. But Crystal Castles. They were something else. During their set I was nearly pickpocketed by a fat guy with a scratchy beard. I had to put up with dome twattish Canadian guy who was trying to shove to the front at the expense of some poor girls at the front, before one of the security guys thwacked him in the head. I had every crowed surfer who got pulled out of the crowed smashing into the back of my big curly head. I got more battered than at any other gig I've been to. But I didn't care. They were the greatest live act I've ever seen. They were on another level. Before their encore, they finished with fan favourite "Not In Love", every person in Brixton Academy belting out "I'M NOT IN LOVE!" Well. I'd beg to differ. Oh I would SEVERELY beg to differ.

Los Campesinos! - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire 02/01/11

NME Awards Tour
Los Campesinos!
(supported by Summer Camp and Grouplove)
02/02/11

Los Campesinos! are one of those bands who have burrowed deeper and deeper into my heart every time I've listened to one of their tracks, read one of their tweets, bought one of their albums, seen one of their interviews, the list goes on. They're such an awesome band to be a fan of and I've known for a good while that their fanbase are terrifyingly devoted. So I was INCREDIBLY excited for this gig. It's crowning off a pretty glorious 12 months for them, after releasing the genuinely stunning Romance is Boring in early 2010 and cementing themselves as one of the best British indie bands, certainly around now, and maybe ever.

I'd never been inside Shepherd's Bush Empire but had heard very good things about it. I loved the look of it as soon as I got in there, reminded me of the Kentish Town Forum. Got in nice and early, determined to be at the front, after a hasty pre-gig KFC. I got interviewed by the website Winkball in the queue as well, so here's that...



Grouplove opened up and came on stage fairly early to a small but growing audience. They put on a stonking set, brilliant energy, especially from their bassist who had just the greatest beard ever. The sound was a bit muffled though and the female vocals were inaudible at times, and the crowed were pretty static despite the energy from the band - to be expected I suppose. But the leader singer's voice is phenomenal. The boy's got a scream and a half on him, and his mouth is TERRIFYINGLY HUGE.

They were followed by the wonderful Summer Camp who I just find pant wettingly adorable. I'm a fan of playful heckling, I'll be honest, and Jeremy Warmsley enterred to my large cry of "STROKE YOUR BEARD!" to which he sheepishly obliged, to a good few cheers from the front line of the crowd. Their fantastic indie pop had me a wee bit giddy, but as a live act they fell a tad flat, and I think it was down to the venue. There's just the two of them onstage and Elizabeth Sankey had a wonderful understated spite in the way she delivered the lyrics which was difficult to translate across a safety barrier. But I still loved them and swooned unashamedly at their very presence.

But then, the real business began. The bottom floor of the venue was pretty packed out, though the balconies were quite sparse - but who cared. Everyone who was in there was visibly brimming, and you could have cut the hyperactive fanboy tension with a knife. The front of the crowed was full of teenagers which I was overjoyed to see. When the band began to file out, the cheer from the crowd was huge. Me and my two companions were far from the only ones with massive grins on our faces. It was clear before even a note had been played that tonight the crowd wanted one thing and one thing only: to show just how much they bloody love this band.

Opener "In Media Res" was drowned in cheers as soon as the first chord began. We were all chanting the the keyboard line. The massive drop in the middle of the song was like a flood breaking, everyone went crazy, belting "THE SKY NEVER ONCE TURNED BLACK!" up at Gareth Campesinos!, their brilliantly ginger front man. From the very first moment, every single lyric seemed precious, faithfully barked back up at the band, flawless, word for word. This was followed instantly by fan favourite "Death to Los Campesinos!" which is where the truly sweaty, hyperactive, euphoric jumping and thrashing began, guitar lines belted back as well as the lyrics. The brief breaks in the track were handled amazingly, and you just felt totally in the band's palm before they kicked back in again. The energy from every member of the band was incredible, Gareth thrashing around just how I expected him to, throughout the whole gig. All of the vitriol and bitterness that shoot through his lyrics seemed as even more fresh and real live than it does on record, which is certainly saying something.

There was a brief break between "Death to Los Campesinos!" and "Miserabilia" in which someone near the front (not me of course... ahem...) took the chance to yell "GARETH! I WANT YOUR SPERM!" I was rewarded with a look of what I hope was pride!

"This Is How You Spell 'HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes and Dreams Of A Generation of Faux Romantics" was a truly intense experience and is where the real moments of exhilirating crushing happened at the front. Gareth was on superb form in this one, bending his back down to the floor and scrambling all over the place. I could try to be articulate, but I'll just say that it was during this track that I realised how flipping amazing the band looked and acted live.

Mid-set, they took the chance to debut some new material which they'd mentioned on Twitter. Two tracks, "Four Seasons" and "The Black Bird, The Dark Slope" were performed and met with nods of rhythmical approval from all of the t-shirt wearing fan boys down the front. From what I could make out, the lyrics sounded brilliant as always. We also got a wee bit of a respite from the sweaty mayhem (sweaty was definitely the word of the evening)

Then came "Straight In At 101" which I was desperate to see live. It definitely seemed like a crowd favourite, and demonstrated the crowd's breathtaking stamina in that we were thrashing and leaping around like a ball pit in a cyclone whilst hurling back every single word into Gareth's face. I was so, so happy to see that my favourite lyrics, the ones where I just yelled as loud as I could, were the ones that other fans seemed to love as well. Best example of that has to be in the stunning "The Sea is a Good Place To Think of The Future" where every person in the building seemed to be devoted to nothing more than putting everything their body could offer into yelling "YOU COULD NEVER KISS A TORY BOY WITHOUT WANTING TO CUT OFF YOUR TONGUE AGAIN!!!"

The sublime finale "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks" was insanely good and as the band slunk of the stage, the crowed carried on chanting the (second) chorus "ONE BLINK FOR YES! TWO BLINKS FOR NO! SWEET DREAMS, SWEET CHEEKS, WE LEAVE ALONE!" until the band returned. Gah it was just such a glorious couple of minutes with everyone stood their belting out that chorus. And the band returned and performed a brilliant encore of "Knee Deep at ATP" and "...And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison". Gareth joked before they began the final song "erm... this is an album track from the first album". And they finished a show with that, something most bands wouldn't even dream of doing. But that shows one of the things that is best about Los Campesinos! The crowd adored every second of the encore, as if both tracks were anthems. This gig really confirmed for me that Los Campesinos! are a band who I, and evidently many nothers, truly truly love and treasure, shown in the fact that every song was stunning, every lyric chanted back by the crowd in a terrifyingly devoted chorus. Very few other bands could end a gig with two album track from their debut. But when you're a band as loved as Los Campesinos! it seems like the natural choice.

An amazing gig all in all. I wish a few other tracks had been included, like "My Year in Lists", "Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s), "Coda: A Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner State" and "Ways To Make It Through The Wall" but I really have no complaints.

There was a brilliant moment where Gareth pointed up to the balcony and said "there are some Los Campesinos! parents here this evening...". Masses of cheers and bows were directed upwards at these two beaming middle aged folk, and I think the Northern lad behind me articulated the feelings of the crowd who loved the band so much and were looking for someone to thanks: "THANK YOU, YOU AMAZING SEX GODS!"


Setlist
1. In Medias Res
2. Death To Los Campesinos!
3. Miserabilia
4. A Heat Rash In The Shape Of The Show Me State; Or Letters From Me To Charlotte
5. This Is How You Spell, "HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics"
6. Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1
7. Four Seasons
8. The Black Bird, The Dark Slope
9. Straight In At 101
10. We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
11. Romance Is Boring
12. You! Me! Dancing!
13. The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
14. Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

Encore:
15. Knee Deep At ATP
16. ... And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison

Sleigh Bells Rang. I Was Listening.

Sleigh Bells
XOYO, London
Sunday 21st November 2010



I really hope you've heard Sleigh Bells before. If you haven't then turn your speakers up as loud as possible. Literally louder. No louder. Now right click on the little speaker icon on the bottom right of your computer screen and make sure EVERYTHING is as loud as possible. Done? Now click here. Wait for 2:03. And now here.

Understand?
Good.

So last night my friend Will and I set out- both clearly a little tired still from a party the night before- to go and see Sleigh Bells at XOYO. We had no sodding idea where the venue was so left in plenty of time... and found it straight away. We were less than encouraged though as it was down some dingy back street in North London and the only other people hanging around outside reminded me of the opening credits of Shaun of the Dead. After a wee bit of fretting for our middle class lives (ok, maybe just our phones) we got into the club, bought an overpriced drink each and waited for the support acts. First up were Teeth, who were fantastically noisy. I just spent a good while trying to discover their MySpace, and FINALLY got there! Click here, and you can also read this interview. Their frontwoman looked like Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim when she goes all kick-ass towards the end. Swaggered onstage looking every inch the unassuming but clearly bat crap insane front girl- complete with plaid shirt tied around her waist. The club was only just filling up so the bands frenetically noisy sounds and Veronica So's crazed thrashings and screaming seemed a little bit wasted, and I felt for them. Kudos to them though- they played on and rocked out through that as well as Veronica being clearly sick as a dog and what looked to me (a musician) like a few cunningly concealed technical hitches. I'm definitely checking these guys out more, and they got me and Will warmed up even if the rest of the venue seemed a touch apathetic. Twats.

As the club gradually filled up, the second warm up act took to the stage- The Knocks. I'd heard of these guys in passing somewhere, but only knew that they were in some way electronic. Well bugger me, were these guys good! Their set began with two dancers- who looked like Cell Jr equivalents of Lady GaGa (if you don't get the Dragonball Z reference, watch this)- spreading huge plastic Icharus wings across the stage, then shedding them and freestyling either side of the stage whilst The Knocks- a US dance duo- launched into their stunning set! Seriously. They got the whole venue moving and dancing in a couple of minutes! Hands in the air, hips shaking all around- it was magical! Click here for their MySpace. I grabbed a copy of their single from the merchandise stand straight after they finished. I had to shove it down the front of my trousers for safety though.

Because I knew.
I knew the onslaught was only a brief way over the horizon.

By this time I was PUMPED for Sleigh Bells. Will was PUMPED for Sleigh Bells. The whole crowed was visibly getting PUMPED for Sleigh Bells. Which reminds me- the crows was absurdly diverse. There was a massive dude at the front who looked like Hurley from Lost. Three incredibly lanky lesbians stood right in front of me and Will. A large amount of muggish looking indie types who were making painful attempts to look like Yannis from Foals. A buxom black girl with a MASSIVE afro who for some reason was with a blonde, mid-50s white woman who clearly had no idea what she was in for. But I didn't care. I was there for Sleigh Bells.

Everything I had heard about Sleigh Bells live just had my mouth simply FLOODING in salivation.
It was meant to be glorious, sweaty, chaotic, intense, thrashing euphoria, all crammed into a 35 minute set. It was meant to be a true experience.

And it was.



From the minute Derek Miller sprinted onto the stage, wielding his guitar in a way that would make Thor sheepishly conceal his thunderous hammer, there was just this feeling that the stakes were high, that we were all there to just go nuts. Alexis Krauss strutted our gloriously onto the stage like some tattooed, leather clad raven. It was go time. They launched into "Tell 'Em" and we the crowd were off. Thrashing, jumping, sweating, literally screaming the words back at Alexis. Hell, most of the time we were just screaming. There was no barrier between stage and crowd, and with a band like Sleigh Bells there couldn't be. The whole tiny venue was pressing onto the stage, and Alexis was giving it right back. I managed to work my way RIGHT to the front. All of our hands went up, and she returned in kind, constantly grabbing and stroking hands, pressing them up against her (I can say though that I didn't get a grab on any sensitive areas, which is more than I can say for the girl next to me) She would lean right into the crowd, ruffling her own jet black hair, and the crowd were more than content to give her several dozen hands. There was a massive surge to get even a finger on that gorgeous woman, who prowled, leapt, slunk and thrashed around the stage and over the audience. I got more than a few ruffles of her hair and strokes of her arm. It was just so intense! I've not been to a gig like that before- where the crowd are just baying for the front woman who's more than content to lean in, share the microphone and just scream inaudibly with you and at you, with none of us caring because it's so friggin' awesome. It would be hard to pick a particular song as a highlight because Sleigh Bells only have one album of material and all the songs on that have one setting- LOUD AND AWESOME. In the final song though, I had the privelege of being right underneath Alexis Krauss as she leapt from an amp, stagediving into the crowd. Good grief it was unbelievable.

This gig was just such a brilliant experience. It really brought music alive for me in a way that lots of gigs don't. Musicians who make brilliant music that I love and respect were RIGHT THERE, literally inches away from me, most of the time even less than that- so close that I could touch them, carry them over my head and feel their sweat. Awesome. That's how it should be.

I don't know what the future holds for Sleigh Bells. Their album Treats is one of my highlights from 2010 and it's a masterpiece, a lesson in taking pop music and shaping it into something unrecognisable, new, exciting and just bloody awesome. Maybe there's bigger things. Unlikely mainstream success. I don't know. I don't REALLY care. All I know is that I got to see them in a tiny London venue, playing songs from a brilliant album, in a crampt, sweaty gig and I managed to get my hands on Alexis Krauss. Epic.

The Boys From School and Someone Great

Hot Chip & LCD Soundsystem
Alexandra Palace
10/11/10

I went to this gig the night after seeing Marina & The Diamonds at the HMV Forum and, no bones about it, I was way more excited about this one. The thought of this gig had me foaming at the mouth in a Pitchfork Media like manner. Two of the most inventive, progressive, quirky and clever acts from the past ten years who have both released stunning albums this year, topping off incredible back catalogues. I was psyched.

The gig was at the MASSIVE Alexandra Palace, which I had never been to before. My older brother gave me a couple of warnings about the place. 1) As I live in Surrey and Ally Pally is in Tottenham it would be a TREK, and getting home would be a mission. 2) The place is like an airplane hanger- so get to the front.

Alexandra Palace Interior

My two companions and I got going just after four, got to Wood Green tube station, got hopelessly lost walking up to the venue, but thankfully arrived and virtually no one was there. Slap bang at the front. The only way at any gig as far as I'm concerned. Despite being accosted by a rather drank and exceptionally camp American called Tony (who apparently works for Wedding TV...) my excitement was building and building and building parallel to the increasing amount of audience members arriving.

The lights went down, the crowd cheered, screamed, whistled, and in such a massive venue, the effect was fantastic. When Hot Chip wandered out, I was not let down! Lead singer Alexis Taylor was clad in characteristically strange attire- what appeared to be hugely baggy blue and white stripy pyjamas, with curly hair held back with hair band. And his massive specs of course. He looked like the indiest teddy bear around.



They opened with huge classic "And I Was A Boy From School", which was a great move. It really reinforced that these guys have some stunning songs which their fans just love and adore as hits. They followed with "One Pure Thought" which went down MASSIVELY WELL and the front was a sea of dancing, flailing, jumping, whatever you can think. "Thieves in the Night" inspired a great singalong (well, from me at least...) "Over and Over" was everything I wanted it to be. The intro was reworked and made noisier and pretty intense, and the whole venue was leaping, thrashing, sweating in unison. "Alleys Cats" was beautiful and I was so glad they played it as it's one of my favourites from the new album, and just demonstrated that these guys can take electronic music from one extreme of thrashing and leaping to to other of spaced out melodic reflection. The set was heavy on material from the new album, but that's ok because One Life Stand is brilliant and the fans clearly love it as much as anything else the band have done. Having said that, they closed with biggest hit "Ready for the Floor". Alexis Taylor launched into an absurd leg kicking dance, but couldn't beat his band mate Owen Clarke who whipped out some of the funniest dad dancing I have ever seen in my entire life.

One thing I loved so much about this set is that, whilst I love Hot Chip more and more as I listen to them, the tendency in their music to shift texture mid song, have things like intros totally detached from the rest of the song etc. have sometimes been hard for me to reconcile with their music as a whole. But when I experienced it all in a live setting, I just got it. It all came together and I was caught up in everything about the music and their albums have been in heavy rotation since Wednesday! Oh and Alexis Taylor told me that he loved me!



After leaving the stage to rapturous applause, the wait for LCD Soundsystem began. My friends, myself and a couple of girls in the audience we befriended had been chatting about who we thought more people had come to see- Hot Chip or LCD. That question began to be answered as more people tried to push their way to the front in the gap between the two bands. It was answered a little more when LCD Soundsystem started playing. The applause and rapture when James Murphy non-chalantly swaggered on stage was phenomenal. Adoration was POURING off of the audience onto the stage. But the question was REALLY answered when the distinctive drums of opener "Dance Yrself Clean" began, accompanied by lone keyboard throbs which were layered with bright flashes from a wall of strobes. The slow build in the song was a feeling I could never even hope to replicate, the aura James Murphy had around him just unbelievable. Then when the song kicked up several gears and and the whole band stormed in, the front went MENTAL. It's definitely the craziest I've ever seen the front of an audience during the first song of a gig. There was no question about it. This was LCD's night.



"Dance Yrself Clean" gave way quickly to "Drunk Girls" which was just unbelievable. The whole front section knew every word and yelled the chorus back at James Murphy in one euphoric, heaving mass of bodies. "I Can Change" inspired a huge singalong, gave us a rest, before smashing into "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House"- probably my highlight of the show. The energy- band and crowd- was unbelievable. James Murphy just howled, totally lost in it, moving around stage, smashing the drum kit along with epically good drummer Pat Mahoney. "All My Friends" drew out an unashamedly overwhelmed response from me. I bloody love that song. First LCD song I heard, and hearing that intro just took me to another place and, once again, the crowed poured their adoration and the lyrics back onto the stage, engulfing James Murphy. And I finally learned that the piano part is played live, not looped. MAJOR kudos to the beyboard plater. At the end of the main set, "Yeah" was drawn out for a good 15 minutes and was joyful, sweaty anarchy. It got ridiculous, but neither me nor anyone else at the front cared. There was one girl in front of me though who literally moved hardly a single muscle during the WHOLE gig. I may have used "Yeah" as a chance to take a couple of digs at the back of her legs...

The band disappeared briefly and returned to launch into "Someone Great"- a necessity at LCD concerts, and the crowd rose and rose with every word. They closed with "Home" and part of me really wanted them to finish with "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down", but there was NOTHING to complain about. I was able to stay for the release of a ride of white balloons and had to cut the last song short by a minute or two to get home, but this set was phenomenal. The set was heavily weighted between the first and third albums, eschewing some of the most popular songs from (arguably most popular album) Sound of Silver, but it was so clear that this band have a fan base who love every inch of what they create, so whatever they played was reverently, euphorically received. Just sensational. One of my friends had this as his first gig. Oh how I envy that privilege! After a few days tired reflection (got home at 2am after a route involving McDonald's, a drunk auntie and a replacement bus service...) I've decided it hasn't usurped Blur's Hyde Park reunion gig as my best gig ever, but it came so, so, so SO close. There was definitely the same sense of true, proper love between the band and their audience- an audience who adore their music and really take it into their hearts and lives. Oh gosh it was amazing.

James Murphy has said he's shutting LCD Soundsystem down after this album has run its course. Oh please James. Don't leave us.

Inside With The Outsider

Marina & The Diamonds
HMV Forum, London
9/11/10



This post may seem a tad irrelevant, but as someone who wants to hopefully make a career out of writing about music, I really want to share my reviews and experiences of gigs with you, and also practice writing live reviews. And who knows, we may generate some chit-chat!

It's been a few months since I last went to a proper gig so I was understandably excited about going to see Marina & The Diamonds, one of my favourite acts to surface this year who has left the interminable dross of people like Ellie Goulding far behind in her dust. I'd watched live footage of her plenty of times and, being honest, I unashamedly find her and everything about her mind-blowingly attractive. Like REALLY. So. Tension was high!

I'd never been to the Forum before and loved the look of it when I got in there! Marina herself described it as "old and theatrical", and it was. But it did strike me as one of those places where lots of people would stand and just have a drink rather than get moving like I VERY MUCH think you should at a gig.

She was supported by thecocknbullkid, who was ok but didn't really get the crowd moving, didn't have much stage presence. I had to feel for the girl really. I know that she's been round for a good couple of years longer than Marina and was a little bit hyped by the NME a while ago, but nothing's happened for her and now she's supporting a much more fresh, more potent act. She didn't really have a definite image or thing going on, which sadly you very much need if you're a young female pop act trying to make it in today's music world. Her backing band were incredibly tight but the set wasn't great. She said she has her first headline show in a while coming up at the start of December, so who knows.

thecocknbullkid

This didn't dampen my appetite to see Marina though. When the lights went down and the the opening music kicked in, I was on the edge! The band swanned out, clad sleekly in black and looking pretty pro. Projections started swimming across the backdrop- Marina's silouhette in a James Bond opening credits style animations which did wonders for my forlorn indie crush fantasies. But opening track "The Family Jewels" (not on the album- brave move!) was brilliant. Marina slunk out in a beautiful, figure hugging velvet dress, in which she was impressibely agile and managed to leap around the stage (and I mean leap) in it during "Girls" and "The Outsider". My main problem though was the sodding crowd. I was right at the front and they were TERRIBLE. I was surrounded by total morons who barely moved a muscle and spent literally the whole gig with their phones and cameras in the air. I could SEE the pictures they were taking. They were terrible! I felt like punching someone in the back of the head it was horrendous. A genuinely terrible effect of Facebook right there for you folks. Marina tactfully worked this out and after a wardrobe change into an outfit similar to the photo at the top, though accompanied by a novelty size flashing love heart belt, managed to get the whole crowed jumping in "Oh No!". All of her idiosyncracies and quirks, both vocal and otherwise, were present and amplified and I was fauning all over her, as was an especially dedicated contingent on the other side of the venue from me.

What I found fascinating was her effortless transition between the quirky, absurdist, zoned out, alluringly scary Marina who could prance around wearing an Indian headdress or absurdly coloured US flag tracksuit and the genuinely overwhelmed, colloquial, everyday Marina. It's a huge contrast from someone like Lady GaGa, where the facade never comes down. It was a strange thing, having her flick between the two, but created a lovely warm atmosphere and rapport with the members of the crowd who gave a toss.

The gap before the encore inspired mass chanting and Marina reappeared, alone, and launched into a solo rendition of "Numb"- just her and a piano- which was just delightful. It reminded me what a great melody and chorus that song has and inspired a great singalong. Then she finished on a huge note with "Hollywood", her biggest hit, which was everything it needed to be. As a girl with only one album of material it was her only option for finishing really, but still managed to get the terrible crowd jumping around for the duration, before a huge plastic burger was lowered from the ceiling in the last chorus. Which was a lil' bit odd.

Despite the shameful display from the crowd, Marina was stunning in every way. She's a genuinely strange figure in British pop at the moment and I hope so much that bigger things are in store for her.




Set List

THE FAMILY JEWELS
THE OUTSIDER
GIRLS
SEVENTEEN
ARE YOU SATISFIED?
ROOTLESS
HERMIT THE FROG
I AM NOT A ROBOT
OBSESSIONS
JEALOUSY
OH NO!
SHAMPAIN
MOWGLI'S ROAD
GUILTY
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NUMB
HOLLYWOOD