Lana Del Rey

When: Monday 20^th May

Where: Hammersmith Apollo

Why: I thought I was a fan

Prepare yourselves readers, you’re about to experience Brixpig’s first scathing review. I know, I know, we never thought it could happen. But I’m here to tell you that none other than the USA’s golden angel Lana Del Rey has forced me into it.

Never before have I been bored at a gig. Just not paying attention, thoughts wandering, not having fun good old fashioned BORED. Usually if it's someone whose music I love, I'm just so thrilled to be there and experiencing them that it's always amazing. But something just didn't quite connect with Lana, which was sad, given that I did (and still do) really like her actual music. The set was cool, very 1920s (very Gatsby actually), with candelabra, palm trees and two magnificently handsome stone lions flanking the stage. But I was boiling, and surrounded by gangs of women in their thirties with enormous handbags and cups of offensive smelling Chardonnay whooping "I LOVE this one!!" Could not have been more of a contrast between this and the relaxed comfort and beauty of Noah and the Whale the night before.

Lana seems to be basically like one of those girls at school who is so pretty that she doesn't need even to flirt, but can just look mournfully at a boy and he'll swoon at her feet. This was like that, but with thousands of people at once. Which I suppose is actually quite impressive, but not a style I'm a massive fan of and I can’t agree that it makes for an atmospheric performance. What happens is you end up with a massive love-in between the crowd and her, which is simultaneously a bit sickening and also just really annoying. I've never heard so much raucous high-pitched screaming from a crowd, and I've seen Glee in concert. I never expected her to be the most energetic of performers, given the swoony and melancholic nature of her songs, but this was on another level of mournful. If she were any more languid she'd be an actual mermaid glaring at you from her lonely rock.

She hadn't even finished her first song before she was in the crowd greeting her fans like she was at a film premiere, accepting flowers and taking photos with all the time in the world. It must have been great if you were one of the fifty or so people at the front. For the rest of the three and a half thousand in the audience, not so much. The second time she did it, in the middle of the set, I went to the loo. The third time, at the end, I just left. I just don't think it's appropriate to be off the stage for so long during a gig. Sure, lots of acts go into the audience, but they usually keep singing and only do it once for a fairly short time. She also disappeared in the middle of the set while a short film came on, which was a fairly good music video style film but again, like, where are you? She wasn't costume changing or anything. It all just felt like a huge amount of  casual vanity.

I genuinely do love her music, her voice is sublime and she really is a beautiful creature. She sang the great ‘Young and Beautiful’ from the Gatsby soundtrack, a cover of ‘Knocking on heaven’s door’ and ‘Blue Velvet’ which always just reminds me of loo roll adverts. But the videos throughout the show of her floating around looking gorgeous were far more interesting than what was happening on the stage, and I could have stayed at home and seen all that on YouTube. She managed to connect with some of the crowd in her wearily sweet way, calling us her friends and claiming that she doesn't usually have much to say on stage. You're telling me. If one if my friends treated me like that, I'd think I'd mortally offended them...

In short – I wish I hadn’t bothered. She’s the one act I’ve seen that has made me think that for some artists, live concerts are a waste of time.

Brixpig x


In happier news, coming up:

BARBRA STREISAND on 1st June at the O2
Viva Forever! Yessss, just before it closes!
Mt Wolf at the Union Chapel
Vikki Stone at the Udderbelly and Frisky and Mannish at the Speigel Tent - Southbank
Glasvegas at XOYO
Macbeth (directed by Eve Best!) at the Globe
MS MR at the Electric Ballroom
Cricket at the Oval (hahaha)
Ellie Goulding at Hammersmith
BARRY GIBB at the O2 (unbelievably excited about this)

Noah and the Whale: A Month of Sundays

When: Sunday 19^th May

Where: Palace Theatre

Why: I couldn’t live without them

The front of the Palace Theatre proclaims Noah and the Whale to be “An evening of pure joy!” and “Wall to wall pleasure!” and although these reviews technically refer to ‘Singin in the Rain’ which is showing there during the rest of the week, they are equally applicable to the evening I spent in their comfy seating and civilised atmosphere with some velvet-clad boys producing some of my favourite music ever.  

The band have said in an interview that performing to a seated audience was like doing a Q&A rather than a gig, which I get, but by the end they’d reminded us that we were at a “seating optional” event and everyone leapt up and those in the stalls swarmed to the front. I say “everyone” leapt up, but the couples on either side of me stayed resolutely seated throughout the whole final two songs and encore, so I looked a bit like a lone seaweed swaying on the shore, but I wasn’t going to be sat down as one of my favourite bands of all time played their faces off. That’s just not right. (And yes… I was there on my own. Whevs).

They played a “stripped-back” set for the first half hour, which I think for them basically meant no funky lighting, as in all other aspects it was the same as later on – how stripped back can you be with four extra violinists and a disco ball? But it was beautiful and they ended on ‘First days of spring’, which is a total stunner and caused one of the bouncy teens sitting in the box opposite to yell “That’s the best song ever!!” at the end.

Then we were treated to a half-hour film (see an intro to it here) made by the band and directed by Charlie (lead singer), featuring as its soundtrack all the songs from the new album, ‘Heart of Nowhere’. The story was roughly to do with an alternate future reality where all teenagers have to be transported to an island to be checked over and to see if they’re suitable to re-enter society as an adult, and usually end up having all their memories wiped. What follows is three teenage boys breaking free of the line into the island to play one more gig and have one more night recording their memories and favourite colours into a tape player, and generally emoting in dark environments. Despite being a bit hipster and earnest, the boys were really passionate and acted well, and the music worked so beautifully with the film that it was quite gripping. Plus some of the accents were hilarious.

After the interval (LOVE an interval – crack out the gin in a tin) we got a full set from the boys featuring mostly the newest album and some of their more recent stuff. The only song from their first album was the inescapable ‘5 years time’, and I did miss some of their earlier songs (‘Rocks and daggers’ is one of my favourite songs of all time) but the new stuff suited the atmosphere of the evening and it was great to hear it live (always helps me get into a band’s new music, and I’d been struggling with their new album a bit – I love it now). We also got to see Anna Calvi perform ‘Heart of Nowhere’, which was great – her voice is mad powerful. They were brilliant though and having such a good view I really got to appreciate how musically talented they all are, seeing them all swap around instruments and vocals, and particularly Matt and Fred’s electric guitar duel which was insane.

A pretty good high point too was that my friends were there, who are themselves friends with Fred the guitarist’s sister, who gave me a spare pass to the after party at Soho House (fancy). I couldn’t scoop any photos as they aren’t allowed in there apparently, but it was awesome. I am definitely not cool enough to have ever been to a proper after party before and didn’t stay long at this one (reasons: my two pals had come straight from Eurovision in Malmo, and I was interviewing three people the next morning and was pretty nervous having never interviewed anyone before). But it was super fun and I managed to “accidentally” bash into most of the band members on my way in and out (Charlie’s hair is enormous and his velvet jacket was extremely soft… I definitely sound like a stalker). EXCITING TIMES for this pig.

Noah and the Whale are one of those bands I’d go and see again and again until the end of time (this was number 4 I think), because I just LOVE them and their music means so much to me (I listened to ‘First days of spring’ every single morning for over a year). They are hilariously mournful and nostalgic for guys who are the same age as me, but who can complain? I used to think there was no such thing as ‘too mournful’ in music, and still sort of do, but bear with until my upcoming Lana Del Rey review…

Brixpig x

OneRepublic

When: Wednesday 24^th April

Where: Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Why: They do nice tunes

Yeaaaaah OneRepublic! You know them! No, you definitely do…! …You know the song ‘Apologize’, with Timbaland? Yeah, that’s them… Yeaaah, they sound a bit like the unofficial soundtrack for One Tree Hill? Exactly.

I still think this is a pretty good way to sum up OneRepublic (in a complimentary way, clearly – I loved One Tree Hill). But after seeing them live I do appreciate their musicality a bit more – they do some cracking instrumentals, their lead guitarist is FIERCELY good, and lead singer Ryan Tedder’s voice is insane (also, how cute a surname is ‘Tedder’? I want to marry him). He spoke a lot about his gospel church experiences as a child (a song on the new album is called ‘Preacher’, about his grandad being, well… a preacher) and this has definitely influenced his voice and his range. It also turns out Tedder has written songs for about a billion other artists (see his Wikipedia page if you don’t believe me) which is impressive.

I also love the face that OneRepublic are a proper band, a little collective with multi-talented musicians, and who all sat around for a jam session half way through the set which was sweet. Their cellist is perfection – if I wasn’t marrying Tedder for his surname, I’d be marrying the cellist for his all-round brilliance. Tedder’s special lighty-up piano was also a hit, especially when it changed from red to blue alongside the lyrics of his acoustic performance of ‘Apologize’, which he then merged with ‘We found love’ - an interesting combo. It was an evening of mash-ups, as it happened, with the original and modern versions of ‘Gold digger’ and an epic encore mash-up of 7 nation army / Adele / Roxanne (he does a great Sting impression) / Sexy back. Impressive. My personal fave was the interweaving of my favourite song of theirs, ‘Good life’, with the backing from M83’s ‘Midnight City’ (aka the Made In Chelsea’ theme tune) – see the video for proof. Smasher.

They pulled up songs from all three albums which formed a brilliant set and finished on a joyful and euphoric ‘If I lose myself’ from the new album ‘Native’ (which is great) and a confetti canon (which you don’t see enough of nowadays, in my opinion).

Awesome.

Brixpig x

Harry Potter Studio Tour

Sherbert lemon

When: Saturday 13^th April

Where: Levesdon

Why: POTTER POTTER POTTER

  

I firmly hold that I am exactly the right age to be heading to Warner Brothers’ Harry Potter studios. I am of the true Potter generation, and all these bloody four year olds running around have no idea how important all this stuff is – they just want a wand and a chocolate frog and then they can be on their way. This was nowhere more obvious than during the quiz which we took part in on Diagon Alley (YEAH WE DID), where my friend and I basically knew the answers to all the questions but had to refrain from tearing down all the kids present by beating them to each one. Still though, we both won a box of Bertie Botts’ beans so children, know your place.

Anyway, tickets are around £29 if you don't get all the extra guidebooks and audio tours (don't think you need them really), which sounds a lot but it's really an experience you need to have if you in any way love Harry Potter or film-making or looking at prosthetic elf heads.

Getting there was super easy, just a train from Paddington (where we spotted Gary Linekar going into Caffe Nero- I know right?) to Watford Junction, then a clearly signed bus from the station to the studios, about a 10 min journey. Sorted.

The start of the tour consists of queuing up past the cupboard under the stairs, being welcomed in a cheese-fest of a holding area (“Scream if you're a Slytherin!” ... Oh, just me then), then a short film by the main three kids about how immense HP is. The best thing about the film is the end, when Harry goes through the doors into the great hall, then the screen rolls up and the doors to the ACTUAL great hall are there. Whoever thought of that was some kind of genius. We had a little guided tour round the great hall ("Here are some Ravenclaw uniforms. Here is the fireplace. There is no roof" etc) then were left to our own devices (thankfully).

Basically, the place is amazing. Just very cool. All the sets are together in a huge hanger – everything you could imagine from the film is there and more. You realise how much massive detail went into these films when you see the shelves of ancient potions books or all the artefacts in Dumbledore's office. All the treasures are kept too, like the philosopher's stone and Harry's golden snitch. It's sad but it reminds you how much the films permeate your life when you see so many little familiar objects and they make you grin with pleasure. I know the books will always be the winners for me (obv) but I do have love for most of the films (especially the first one).

The outdoor sets were the highlight for me – maybe because I'd had a Butterbeer (not as rank as I'd been led to expect) and got over-excited. Number 4 Privet Drive, the Hogwarts bridge, the Knight Bus, the Riddle grave, Harry's Godric's Hollow house and all the chess pieces and Hagrid's motorbike and the Weasleys' flying car... It's all there baby. So impressive and like stepping into another world.

The second half of the experience contains all the animatronics (including a moving Buckbeak – he's so lush!) and models, which are very impressive. Diagon Alley was suitably cool and the wand shop at the end had the name of everyone who'd worked on the films on a wand box which was sweet.

Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

The best thing by FAR though was the huge model of Hogwarts at the end of the tour. It appears round a corner with beautiful music from the soundtrack playing, and it made me genuinely emotional. My friends were waiting for me to come in to see my reaction, which was obviously one of WONDER and expletives. It’s the actual model they used to film all the outdoor scenes of the school in the first seven films, until they scanned in all in digitally so they could explode it in the last one. It was just amazing and so detailed. The (lovely) guide told us that there were even tiny owls in the owlery building and little people in all the windows. It is just astonishing and I can't imagine just how much work went into making it. That model above all of the props and sets there really made me realise how powerful the whole world is that J K Rowling created. I know this sounds ridiculously cheesy but I don't care. It means so much to so many people and that's what every writer must want. That made Rowling feel a bit more present, as up til then it had been all about the films and their creation rather than the books or stories themselves.

GO if you can, you won't regret it.

Brixpig x

Beach House

When: Monday 25^th March

Where: Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Why: Love em

“This is our nineteenth performance in London, so I feel like an oooooold pony… That’s it, sorry to interrupt our evening.” A funny little announcement from Beach House’s singer, Victoria Legrand, which made me chuckle and brought me back down to earth after floating around the heavens on her voice. I only discovered the day before the gig that Legrand, the lead singer, is in fact a girl, which even though I have seen her live I still have trouble believing when I listen to Beach House now. It’s like the time I found out that Cher was actually a woman (I was around 11 years old… shameful). With Cher it was like, oh yeah that actually now makes sense. But I still can’t fully realise it with Beach House. Which I quite like really, it’s mysterious. And also, doesn’t matter at all obviously. Legrand’s voice is like an androgynous French angel swooping over electronic clouds, with a killer guitarist (Alex Scally) in tow on the cloud behind, and hair that could literally destroy you if you came too close. She did seem to be channelling something of a pony with her amazing headbanging mane – her hair has a life of its own and was almost like the third member of the group. She was so passionate and seemed almost fused to her keyboard, which was appropriate considering how blended and seamless their music is.

I got into Beach House after hearing ‘Take Care’ at the end of an episode of New Girl, and hadn’t listened to them that much before I went to see them in March. Ever since then I’ve had them on almost every day and just love them so much. Their genre is kind of associated to ‘dreamfolk’ (not an enormous fan of that term but it kind of works) and to be fair, the experience of seeing Beach House live is like being caught up in a beautiful dream. The atmosphere in the Shepherds Bush empire was nothing like I’ve experienced there before – the crowd were SO quiet, like they were dazed or just respectfully speechless at what was going on (which just never really happens, or at least not at the gigs I’ve been to…). It’s impossible not to get caught up in their performance, and the teaming of the lighting with every note of the music was simple but perfect (see my video below of ‘Take Care’ – persevere and about half way through you’ll see what I mean). Legrand’s voice is a bit like if Debbie Harry sang only at the bottom of her range – husky, characterful and enrapturing.

Beach House are a perfect example of why recordings are never enough – you HAVE to see music live to experience how it’s really meant to be and to allow the visuals to let you connect with the band and to get into their personality.

Love them.

Brixpig x