GigReview

Smoke Fairies

Seasick Steve

Robert Plant returned to the Roundhouse as part of the BBC Electric Proms, a venue where his ‘other band’ played in the late 60s. Although billed as celebrating Robert Plant’s recording history, this was very much Robert demonstrating his continued need to re-invent himself. This time he was with his new band, ‘The Band of Joy’.

I’d seen the ‘The Band of Joy’ in September. It was a very enjoyable gig but it suffered from my lack of familiarity with his new material, taking place before the album release. This time, having listened to the new album, there were no issues and I was ready for an enjoyable evening of music.

The gig was being record for broadcast on BBC radio and TV and Robert and his band seemed to enjoy the opportunity to play for a wider audience with a mix of new and old material.

Bit of an odd start to gig. Somebody pushed to the front because they suffered from ‘chronic fatigue”. Obviously the person they asked, moved for them. I don’t want to sound hard nosed, and probably would have moved myself. But surely you would buy a seated ticket if you suffer from such a condition. Afterall if you don’t think your condition is that bad, then why should somebody move for you. If you ask me, it’s the best excuse going. I wonder if ‘I’m an old fucker so get tired’ would work?

Support act were ‘Band of Skulls’ a band I thought I’d seen before, but it turns out I’d heard one of their songs on an advert.

The ‘Band of Skulls’ are a three piece who seemed to draw their influences from similar sources as The Dead Weather and Jack Whites’ other more well known band, The White Stripes. The drummer had obviously grown up on a diet of John Bonham videos providing the driving force behind the band. The lead singer’s influences coming from Jack himself and at times also had a ‘Kings of Leon’ sound. Completing the trio was the tall female bassist who appeared to draw influence from metal basists. With excellent musicianship this was a very strong set and a band that I’ll watch out for.

It’s a sign of the self confidence that’s apparent within ‘The Dead Weather’ that they could have such a string support act and not feel threatened. But any band with Jack White in it is unlikely to appear to be second best. It helps that the band has one of my favourite female rock vocalist in Alison Mosshart, who’s ‘Rock Star Heroin Chick’ has such a strong presence that she can hold her own in the presence of Jack.

Tonight’s gig was up to the standard of previous gigs and included material from their excellent second album. Alison in particular was excellent and the band seem to get slicker with every gig.

The song ’5 Years Time’ was one of those songs that got into my head forcing me to buy an album for a band I wouldn’t normally consider. (Obviously I bought it in the sales – just in case). The album ‘Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down’ was a pleasant album of what I term ‘summer music’. Full of well written songs with a fairly jovial acoustic sound. It provided a nice distraction from my usual rock and indie diet. It seemed to fit perfectly with bright sunny days. So with Noah playing the Roundhouse, I thought that I’d give them a try. It’s quite an intimate venue and surely should suit their sound?

The night started badly. The support act that appeared to be two separate bands pushed together and it didn’t work. The two lead singers looked like they were rejects from a boy band audition while the other two members of the bands were rejected from a rock band.The lead singers had no presence and maybe I missed it, but I don’t think they even said who they were. All four played acoustic guitars and on one song, one played an accordion. The last time I saw that many acoustic guitars was at a school concert with the RE teachers playing ‘happy clappy’ music. Whoever they were, they were awful.

So then on to the main event. ‘Noah and the Whale’ entered the stage with a whole troop of supporting personnel. There hardly seemed to be enough space for them, their backing singers and brass section.

First impressions of the gig weren’t good. The audience had slowly filled up and around half the audience appeared to be young middle-class teenagers. It hadn’t occurred to me that ‘Noah’ are more pop than indie. I had thought the audience would have been full of 20 somethings students, the kind who study philosophy and watched arty films. I’m not sure if this put me in a bad mood but the next 90 minutes will not rank amongst my memorable gigs.

The things I liked on record didn’t seem to work live, even in a smallish venue. Noah’s sound didn’t fill the Roundhouse and the distortion, especially by the bassist, unpleasant. Their new drummer, managed to spend 90 minutes gurning his way through successive songs and was very off-putting. The lead singer cam across as just very ‘wet’ with little presence.

To be honest, I doesn’t help a band if you can hear the conversations around you and the teenagers in the audience were either sucking each others faces off, shouting ‘I love you’ to the lead singer, or talking incessantly. As a 30 something, it just made the whole experience unpleasant. I go to a gig to enjoy the music, jump around and have a good laugh with mates. I’ve never understood why people go to  a gig and then don’t listen. This audience isn’t unique. Even at the one-off Zeppelin reunion concert there was a group near me who spent most of their time talking through that gig – but Zep were so loud, you couldn’t hear them. So maybe I’m being unfair on teenagers who’ve probably never been to a gig before.

Despite all this, I think in an outdoor venue, on a sunny summer, I’m sure Noah are brilliant. I guess that’s the risk of going to watch a ‘summer’ band during the winter.

Flickr Photos

This was my first gig at the Roundhouse. It wasn’t a good start. With doors opening at 6pm, I arrived in Camden early afternoon figuring that I could walk round the market, have some food, take some photos and grab a pint or two. Instead, I arrive to an empty market with many of the stalls closed due to heavy rain and discover I’ve left my camera’s battery at home. (So apologies at the quality of the photos – they’re from an iPhone)

First impressions of the Roundhouse were positive. It’s an old converted railway ‘shed’ and looks from the outside looks like a massive corn exchange. Inside it’s equally as nice. The main auditorium is high but still feels intimate.

As with all benefit gigs. The night was a mixture of music, comedy and charity.

The evening started with a bunch of videos from celebs who couldn’t be bothered making the trip down saying ‘what a good cause it was, but not good enough for me to give up an evening, especially as it’s not being broadcast on TV’.

The host for the evening was Marcus Bridgstocke who did a great job of keeping the evening flowing, including a unplanned ‘beat box’ competition with a member of the audience (I suspect he was a plant). I think many in the audience weren’t sure who he was and clearly don’t stray too far from BBC1 or Radio 1.

With such an early start the crowd was pretty thin for the opening act, Nate James. As I’ll admit several times during this review, I know nothing about Nate. I don’t really listen to soul music. Soul for me ended with Motown. But despite this, I enjoyed Nate’s performance. He’s clearly got a good old fashioned soulful voice, i.e. one that doesn’t try and do vocal hurdles jumping between keys whle waving his hands up and down.

Introducing the next band, the Humans, was the rather lovely Sophie Anderton and Nicky Clarke.

The Humans, featuring Toyah Willcox on vocals, are an art-noise type prog rock type group. Unusually, they don’t feature a drummer, instead have two bassists and guitarist. Like all art-rock type groups. They had their moments. Clearly very talented musicians but at times they were a little bit too talented with some of the music overblown. The surprising thing was how good Toyah’s vocals are which are as strong as they ever where.

Another act I’m not too familiar with is Mr Hudson. I’d heard a few of his songs when he had a library but none since. They songs were fairly bland. Apparently he had been ill, but I think he gave the best vocal performance of the evening.

Bombay Cycle Club, fresh from their success at the NME Shockwave awards, were next. Looking like the maths class had been pushed onto stage. They’re an unusual little band. They do not look like a rock band. The lead singer’s vocal style is almost ‘shy’. They seem a geeky kids pretending to be rock stars but don’t get me wrong, their set was excellent and I’ve since bought their album. So they obviously did something right.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, are another band I know nothing of. In fact I’d never heard of them before this gig. They appeared to have a number of fans in the crowd. There’s was nothing particularly interesting about them.

The Futureheads played a very short set and I think most in the crowd would have been very happy for them to play a few more songs.

The singer of I Blame Coco – looked like a surly teenager who had snook out of her house when her parents weren’t watching. Her voice really didn’t appear to come from her. It’s one of those ‘contemporary’ Lilly Allen type voices. She only played one song and left almost as quietly as she walked on the stage. I search for more info after the gig and she’s apparently got a six album deal with Island records. She also has a famous dad, Sting. On the basis of this performance, I think there’s a bit of nepotism going on.

It was clear as the evening went on. A large portion of the audience were only there for Paul Weller. Although I wasn’t there for Paul Weller, since I’ve never seen him before I was pleased to see him on the bill. He didn’t disappoint. Playing a short set he managed play some new songs and to squeeze in a number of classics such as ‘Town Called Malice’.

The other half of the crowd appeared to be there for KT Turnstull. Again, she’s not somebody I would listen to. I’ve never really known where to pigeon hole her. She’s clearly very talented with a nice voice but there’s nothing in the music that makes me want to listen to more. This was her first gig for several years so her set was a mixture of old and new (all new to me). Her fans seemed to appreciate her performance, so that’s what’s important.

The final act was Seasick Steve. This guy as far as I’m concerned is a legend. I’m not sure I’m convinced about the tall stories he tells but like all good blues singers, a little bit of exaggeration only improves the song. Steve’s set suffered from the over run of earlier acts. But in the 30 minutes he played, he blew away the majority of the crowd. As I left the venue there was a group of Paul Weller fans saying that they weren’t sure they would like him, having only attended for Paul Weller, but they all agreed that he was by far, the best act on the night.