Monday 15 June 2015

Lux Lisbon …. again!

I learned something about myself last night, I learned that I like my artists, painting and starving in garret rooms, my poets in basement bars nursing a single drink along with their tortured souls, and my Lux Lisbon at 'The Bronze'.

 Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled and unsurprised that Lux Lisbon go from strength to strength and can sell out at the beautiful Bush Hall and be slightly overwhelmed by the support of a growing, eclectic and adoring fan base  but I felt 'miffed' by the trappings that go along with that.  I thought the lighting design was hideous and the man with the giant video camera (compensating much?) hugely invasive.  
But the band, was, as ever, amazing!!!


 But I get ahead of myself 
(insert ripple back in time effect from 1970s TV here)

 I grew up in Shepherds Bush, so I couldn't understand why I couldn't place the Bush Hall in my memory.  If there was a beautiful Edwardian music venue under my very nose - why had I never seen it?  A very small amount of research, God bless google had the answer, in my day Bush Hall was a snooker club, with a reputation that meant the teenaged Jude was to walk by very quickly, and preferably on the opposite side of the road!  
So, I had never stepped foot inside it until last night.





The Bush Hall has its own dining room just next door, a contemporary, welcoming place with good food and very cool toilets.  They are happy for you to take a table just for drinks and you may find yourself sitting next to a couple of careless sons, just saying.  
loving the loos!
Bush Hall, by contrast, is all faded elegance; dusty carpets and chandeliers, and you can almost forgive them the lack of air con for the sheer quirky, careless drama of the place.  I have mentally planned how I will use the space to host a party of my own.

 But onwards with the music...
Watching the first support act was a bit surreal, many of us took to the floor and the scene resembled something of a half-hearted student 'sit in' circa 1975 complete with a beautiful tousle haired child who scampered, topless, around the floor.  Son of Jack played a Tom Paxton-esque ode to his own son which was charming if a little more pound land Paxton than the real thing.  He did warm up during his set and was utterly inoffensive although possibly destined to always be the bridesmaid….

 However, I like Kuqi, yes I do!  

 I love that they are named after a Finnish footballer AND have to tell us how to say their name.  I enjoyed the passion and the utterly eclectic mix of songs from Norwegian prisons to the ubiquitous love song.  I'm an 80s girl at heart and can always be led astray by a nod to the elctro synth sound - and Kuqi is making it relevant again.



Smile Dream Standing in the Shadows Nowhere Faster Bastoy Feels Just Like It Should This War Needs Guns Peace of Mind


What I don't now yet is if their music translates to the living room and car  or if they are truly a performance band.  I'll keep you posted or listen in and decide for yourself.


So Lux Lisbon.  What is there to say that hasn't been said before.  
They are amazing.  

“For the eternity that Lux Lisbon looked at him, Trip Fontaine looked back, and the love he felt at that moment, truer than all subsequent loves because it never had to survive real life," 

There is an intensity about Stu, that was barely concealed last night.  He has an uncanny ability to make everyone in a crowd feel that he has looked right at them and in that moment you are a part of it - and your presence there matters.  This coupled with Charlotte's effortless universal appeal is heady stuff.  Everyone there became their Trip Fontaine that sweltering, melting night in the Bush Hall.
It was a great set, from start to finish.

Keep Me Wild is the song that brought our friend Reine all the way to London from Gothenburg.  Did he mind missing the gig in which Foo Fighter Dave Grohl fell off the stage, broke his leg and carried on with the set?  (Not to mention the Swedish Royal wedding.)   No, he did not!  And this is why.


Favourite moment of the night was when Charlotte proudly announced 'I wrote this one', and as the intro played there were many uncomfortable exchanging of glances, an unspoken WHO should tell her that she had far too obviously plagiarised 'Under Pressure' followed by much cringing at our own stupidity when it became a fuck off cover of….Under Pressure.  Loved it!

 But Charlotte DID write the Greatest Human CannonBall and it is an achingly beautiful and haunting song which creates an absolute dichotomy between the guileless, effortless, smiley performer on stage and the insecurity of the anonymous human cannonball.  I haven't stopped listening to this since Friday, it gets under your skin and stays there. 

It was one hell of a party, The Bullingdon Club and Get Some Scars had everyone singing and dancing and sweating copiously.  

Lux Lisbon are quality.  They have talent, passion and joie de vivre in abundance.  They have something to say and you should bloody well listen.  Find them on twitter @LuxLisbonMusic or on Facebook, get yourself to a gig and fall a little in love with them yourself.

 PS  Elliot, I bumped into your mum in the toilets and she's so proud :)  
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Wednesday 10 June 2015

Death Cab for Cutie

So, Death Cab for Cutie, who knew????  Well looking around the audience it would appear that legal secretaries knew. It was heaving with shiny 20/30 something girls rocking their office 'day into evening wear' and snuggling up to their boyfriends.  It was, in fact the most coupley gig (that isn't a word is it?) that I've ever been too.

 So there was I, sans boyfriend, although Janie and I have been known to snuggle if the occasion demands it, sans swishy hair and work bag and worst of all sans alcohol having made the altruistic decision to drive.  I wasn't feeling overly gigtastic.

 Can I just point out that the word heaving - see above, really does not do it justice.  If you're a child of the 70s think of Bournemouth beach on a sunny day in August, add in 6.30am on the Next Sale (You can explain THAT phenomenon to me later) and multiply by your stomach on Christmas afternoon, it was THAT full!

 The support band were really rather wonderful, all energy and drums and sweat and surprisingly good songs.  My eyes met with Janie's and we had but a single thought.  Who are they?

 Well, now I can reveal them to be 'We Were Promised Jet Packs' from Scotland.



So, I'm not a hardcore DCFC fan, in fact I became enamoured with them for 2 reasons; the whimsical and wordy name, which originates with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (I kid you not) 

and the hauntingly beautiful 'I will follow you into the dark.'
There are worse reasons.

 But I have become intimately acquainted with their latest CD, and so it was thrilling to hear them come onto a track from Kintsugi.
'No room in Frame'

The whole set was a brilliant mixture of old and new, although surrealy the new is old to me and the old new.  I loved every single moment of it and trying to unpick why, I think that the answer can be explained in two words Ben Gibbard.  He is mesmerising on stage.  He has a unique voice which manages to make you think that he is singing only to you - no mean feat in a venue packed to capacity.  I actually found myself closing my eyes and getting lost in his voice during 'You've haunted me all my life'

 The rest of the band are fabulous - but there is a real 'rest of the band' sense.  DCFC are, in my opinion, Ben Gibbard and his voice, that can reach inside your soul and make you feel as though you you are sitting in a smokey basement bar nursing a Jack Daniels when you are actually standing at the back of a packed venue with your nose practically pressed against the neck of the man in front.  (It was a clean neck with a smattering of freckles)  There were moments, un neck related,  that I never wanted to end.

 Until the next gig, fickle creature that I am,  I remain Death Cab's biggest, and I fear oldest fan.



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Sunday 7 June 2015

Happy Days



'Happy Days' sounds more like a creche or a retirement home than a festival and I've only given it a fleeting glance in the last few years but the promise of a skatastic Saturday was too great an opportunity to miss and so Saturday May 23rd saw the dance happy girls heading for 2-tone fun in …. Surrey!


The festival itself - almost works!  

 There is a jolly, friendly laid back atmosphere, but the price you pay for this is a degree of ineptitude and whole lot of piss poor security along the way.  

Security on the gate consisted of a cursory peak inside the bag, and as we are more used to festival security that would rival Fort Knox, this was really quite refreshing but unsurprisingly meant that many people were able to bring out entire picnics that they had secreted about their person, in camping chairs, and picnic rugs.  For those of us who came sans liquid refreshment, in an effort to support the finances and longevity of this independent festival, no cash or cards can be taken at the bar - it relies instead upon a system of tokens bought in advance.  This undoubtedly does speed up the bar area, unless you ask for Pimms, but it does rely upon you knowing in advance how much you intend to drink.  The jury is out on this one - but I blame my hangover on the fact that lemonade had the same token value as a beer.  

A huge issue for me was that later bands had to compete with a thudding base from the party in the beer tent.  This was a little surreal - surely festivals are an opportunity to hear live music!  And yet many chose to stand and drink and dance to recorded music in a tent???  Each to their own - but those who come for the live stage shouldn't have to hear it.
But the biggest issue for Happy Days is the lack of security during the event.  Janie and I took up position right at the front of the plebs area, as the completely bonkers and ineffectual 'host' kept referring to us as 'the ones with no money' and we had a great vantage point to watch people leap over the barrier into the VIP area in front of the stage.  They needn't have bothered - others just walked straight in and came over to the barrier to goad their friends into doing the same.  VIP folks were rightly irritated by the freeloaders but during 'From the Jam' it became downright dangerous to be at the front.  The barrier was pushed over - innocent bystanders with it, and people just scrambled over to get to the mosh pit.  Security was entirely missing in action!

So, having whinged my way through a catalogue of complaints, what was good about Happy Days?   The good natured staff, the space, the smell of wacky baccy drifting on the breeze, taking me back to school days and without doubt, the Ska Saturday line up.


Scarlett's Roses

 I liked Scarlett's Roses. It's tough to play the graveyard slot - the opening act of a small festival, but they know how to get a party started. 

 Scarlett's Roses are an energetic, vibrant band from South London.  They are a something of a motley crew; from the whimsical and fey Scarlett, to a rambunctious Ollie and the unutterably cute Oliver on base to name but three, but the history of Ska demonstrates the strength of the melting pot.  The band works and moreover are instantly likeable.
They are essentially a pop band but there is a definite ska vibe that permeates their own music both authentic yet fresh.  An unsigned band needs to pull a few crowd pleasers and they did, with a couple of covers 'All About That Bass' and 'Royals', instantly recognisable but with a ska shaped twist ensuring that they were definitely not a cop out for this intriguing group.  But their own music is their strength and this dance happy girl suggests you get out there and smell the roses.

Set List - Looked something like this
King of Hearts
Dreamers
Lisa
All About That Bass
Lost
Royals
Pulling Petals
Nightmares
American Boy
Truth be Told

Neville Staple








 Janie had been to see Neville Staple a year ago and didn't rate the set that he did in Kingston, but I was looking forward to seeing one of the original rude boys and he only disappointed with a set that was far too short.

 This was a relaxed Staple, extremely well supported by his musicians doing a set that had this 2-tone crowd singing and yelling in approval.  Personally I would have loved a little more Fun Boy Three, a much underrated incarnation of Staple, Hall and Golding in my opinion, but as a festival set goes this had the feel good factor, in 2-tone.



The Selector
No one does sophisticated 2-tone like Pauline Black and the set we had was very much like the woman herself, timeless, elegant, passionate and warm.



Has she sold her soul to the devil?  Does she look ANY different than she did in 1980?


Whoever tells you that side doesn't matter…. is lying! 

The Selecter were made for festivals, they are the sound of summer and friends and dancing and nostalgia.

I defy you to hear 'On My Radio' live and not feel a rush of nostalgia for the 2-tone sound.  

So much so that I feel a field trip coming on To 2-tone Central!!! (who knew????) so get your mum to sign the letter and form an orderly crocodile outside my place. 


Whinge Warning
Gaps between sets were long - just as well as there were  about a dozen female toilets and queues were longer, but it gives me time to flag the complete ineptitude of the happy days host, who was without doubt out of her depth and came across as a completely ditzy ,inept fool.  My favourite moments included getting the name of the DJ wrong, constant references to the non VIP set as being poor and having no money, and insisting that we clap and cheer to bring a band back on and then lamely announcing 'oh well, they can't'!  Meanwhile, on with the show….

The Beat
So…. you don't have to scroll back very far to know that I am in the throes of a complete love affair with The Beat, yep both father & son.  And, at their Under the Bridge gig I managed to have a sneaky snuggle with Ranking Roger Senior himself.  (Did I mention that?)   Therefore this was to be my act of the night, right?









Well….. not exactly.  If I'd never seen them live before I would have been charmed by them, but this was not the rude boy father/son combo at100%.  The Beat arrive on stage with palpable energy and they feed off the crowd to keep that up for the entire set but at Happy Days I got the feeling that they just weren't feeling it.  The VIP area was, at that time awash with people passing the pringles which put a distance between The Beat and the real rude boy fans, many of whom I was meeting again having, apparently, chatted to them at Under the Bridge.

The compact set was chosen to perfection but it just wasn't their finest hour.  You know when this father & son combo keep shirts on, that they just aren't feeling the love.  But in no way did it diminish mine.  

From The Jam


From the Jam are no tribute act - they are as the name suggests From the Jam.   Bruce Foxton is an original and Russell Hastings is no karaoke Paul Weller, he has his own strength and power and rawness and (whispers) an arguably better voice.  The ubiquitous Jam songs maintain a youthness and vitality in Hasting's hands.



Never one to fear the cliche, the crowd went wild for the entire set.  Could have done without the full pints of beer being tossed liberally into the air and being slightly too close to the man who vomited where he stood, and danced in it, but I bloody loved From The Jam.


 This is the setlist as published on setlist.fm and may well have been the intention but that isn't the set I remember.  After 4 or 5 numbers there was frantic gesturing stage left and Hastings went to receive the urgent missive, went around the band sharing the info and went on to inform us that they had been told that this had to be their last number.  They 'finished' with an incredible and riotous 'Going Underground'  Did I mention that you really don't miss Paul Weller?  

 With the last drunken 'la la la la' still ringing (from us not them) they were told that actually they could play a few more and thus we got Eton Rifles, A Town called Malice and That's Entertainment (queue more la la la la-ing)  
So a weirdly disjointed set but huge fun.




I believe the Happy Mondays were there too but that's as much as I can say.  They're a band that despite their notoriety managed to pass me by entirely, possibly due to my sojourn to the land down under in the early 90s.  So we stayed long enough to hear what appeared to be ranting from Shaun Ryder - hard to tell as we were now closer to the beer than the stage and the content of his rant was lost to the beat emitting from the tent. So, feet throbbing, ears ringing we headed back from whence we came.

 Happy Days festival beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.  The line up was almost faultless.  Unlike some of the criticism levelled at the festival on social media, I don't see Ska and Mod as unlikely bed fellows and From the Jam were a huge hit with the largely 2-tone crowd.  Happy Mondays were probably a bit more random but  the naivety of those who think that Madness might be a possibility for a small independent festival, makes me grin.  

 All human life were here


The Lovers

The Bikers




And the plain unlikely
Mixed in with ruuude boys and girls, hen nights and families.  It was a good natured melting pot of a festival.

 Would I go again?  I might as well, I still seem to have some beer tokens left.  
































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