When: Saturday 25th February
Where: St George’s Church, Brighton
Why: A birthday present for my flatmate.
A concert in a church? Why the hell not? This was part of a
sort of mini pre-tour before Marina’s proper UK tour in May, and was a fairly
intimate gig of around 200 people, crammed into a (very cool and modern
thinking) church in Brighton’s Kemp Town. Which is a very residential area and
not at all where you’d expect all this musical jollity to go down, but St
George’s is a recognised location for gigs, and was very professionally run may
I just say. Toilets were accessed in the crypt café, past the nursery room and
spare pushchairs, and there was a little bottle bar at the back of the church,
like the coolest Sunday school imaginable.
I can’t believe I’ve just started a review of such a
brilliant gig by giving you the exact location of the toilets. But these things
are important to me and to my bladder, so I obviously felt the need to share.
ANYWAY. Marina was excellent and looked super lovely with her new blonde
hairdo. She came across as genuinely friendly, flirty, very open and normal
(contrary to what I’d expected, having been influenced by a Popjustice
interview about her upcoming album which portrayed her as a bit of a mental). And
really really good at singing live. Which is always nice to find out. There
were a lot of new songs which were all encouragingly catchy and more mature and
slick than the first album. I’m very glad we’re finally getting the new album
soon, even if it is the end of April. It has been a long time coming but sure
it’ll be worth it.
The audience was also seriously eclectic – much more so than
I thought. I’d anticipated being surrounded by mouthy teenagers, and they were
there in their numbers alright, but there were a LOT of middle-aged couples
singing along to all the words from the balcony, and many, many, solo
gay boys. I think they all should have teamed up and made friends. By the end
of the gig, having overcome the initial politeness and best-behaviour feeling
of being in a church, the crowds had surged out of their chairs (pews…) and
gathered at the front and in the aisles for some serious jumping and giggling.
The support act was a chap called Eugene McGuinness and his
band, who were a bit like Oasis, but in the 50s. Not bad sort of tuneful rocky
music, a guitarist with excellent hair and teddy boy outfits (including a very
stylish gold shirt from Eugene). Recommended for a wee listen if you fancy
something new and inoffensive.
Lush.
Brixpig x
No comments:
Post a Comment