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

Coveryard II

When: Thursday 14th March

Where: Tooting Tram and Social

Why: Because the first one was so good

Neither my flatmate nor I had ever been to Tooting before, which partly accounts for why upon exiting the tube station we let out shrieks of “A Wilkinson’s!” [her] and “A Primark!” [me]. The other part accounting for this is that we are easily impressed and don’t get out much. But it was a good start for Tooting and we wandered along to the Tramshed in a state of dreamy excitement and dazed pleasure (“I wonder if it’s nice, living in Tooting?”).

This was however our second Coveryard and knowing more or less what to expect, we were pretty excited. We got to the Tramshed early to secure a table (VERY wise considering how totally rammed it got later on) and a Mother Flipper burger for our dinner (@motherflipperuk), which was delicious and gave the pub a smoky barbecue-y air for a while, never gonna complain about that. I’m now a fan of the Tramshed as a pub – high ceilings and funky decs, with a good range of ales at the bar, including Doombar, a personal fave. It was as atmospheric as you could want for an innovative music night, especially with the tiled walls and curving tramshed ceiling which was good on the old acoustics front, and with candles glowing on all the tables, chandeliers glinting down on the orchestra and people perched on every conceivable surface in eager anticipation for the tunes.

Tramshed

I have to say, though, that as a venue I think the pub was totally different to and perhaps not as successful as last time’s church – I think it just encourages a more rowdy and congenial atmosphere which is a good thing unless you’re trying to actually hear the acts, which we obviously were. The choir had to struggle to make themselves heard up on the balcony, and there had to be some serious shushing of the crowd before basically every act, which was necessary and I’m glad they got shushed, but was a bit frustrating and school assembly-esque. I think the respectful, peaceful atmosphere of the church was more conducive to this kind of event. Also, the toilets were behind the stage and I bashed into a tuba on my way for a wee, which was embarrassing. 

First of the featured bands was Alaksa, who seemed to be a quietish girl and impossible to search for as there are loads of artists with her name… She was really good though, anyone with more info send it my way! Joyshop were impressively together, with their funky lounge stylings and cool cover of ‘Love will tear us apart’. The format of the evening was similar to last time, with the three main acts interspersed between a few covers by the ensemble and Georgina Hunt, whose cover of Breathe by Sean Paul and Blu Cantrell with a guest rapper was brilliant and invigorating and got everyone going – even the choir up on the balcony were having a bop. This was exactly what the crowd had needed right at the start of the evening to get them going and perhaps to command their attention, rather than it getting slightly lost in the middle of the sets.

DEMS

I’d been looking forward to Dems, and they didn’t disappoint. They perform like a real collective in a little clump of keyboards, and with very pleasing hats. Their originals are great but their cover of T2’s ‘Heartbroken’ was a total winner too. Sadly we had to leave before the end of their set thanks to the massive intervals in between each act, which left the evening dragging on slightly. Obviously part of the character of an evening like this is the DIY element of getting everyone ready, and you wouldn’t expect it to be super-slick, but some of the gaps between acts were way too long and I think didn’t help the rowdy audience’s attention span. Having such beautiful music before you is almost more frustrating when you’re having to ignore the total babble at the back of the pub, but I would blame this on location rather than the audience themselves, as there was a general air of massive appreciation and love for the acts.

Total credit to the organisers though, this is such a great concept for an evening and I'll keep coming back as long as they go. All in all it was a treat to fill my ears with such tunes, and my mouth with delish burgers and ale, and my eyes with fairy lights and nice bearded hipsters, but just make it a bit slicker next time (and bring back the ukuleles!). 

Brixpig x

Light Show

When: Monday 4^th March

Where: Hayward Gallery

Why: … pretty!

I won’t lie to you, I left the Hayward Gallery’s latest artistic offering, the Light Show, with a bit of a headache and feeling generally queasy. I had stagger to the café to have a sit down and a coffee (they do a great mocha) to regain my steadiness before I went on my way. But I’ve always had weird eyes, and to be fair it was a great exhibit.

Favourite elements included the first piece you come upon, the humongous ‘Cylinder’ by Leo Villareal, which is a cascade of light composed of tubing and LEDs flitting about in never-ending patterns. It was mesmerising and easily the one thing in the exhibit that you’d really want to return to. I’d happily have a little version of it in my house. I also loved ‘Water One’ which was made up of bubbly fountains in a darkened room, lit up by intermittent strobe lighting to catch it in all of its various flubbery splashing shapes. I loved this and I’ve always been a big fan of a fountain, but couldn’t tolerate it for long before I started sneezing (extreme variations of light do that to me… it’s definitely a thing, ok) so had to scuttle out again. I soothed my peepers with ‘Wheeling peachblow’ by Dan Flavin, which was meant to recreate the colour of a type of blown glass and although created with fluorescent light was soft, beautiful and simple.

Everyone seemed to be loving Carlos Cruz-Diez’s ‘Chromosaturation’, which comprised of three segments of a room, saturated in red, blue or green light. You have to spend a few minutes in each room to become completely saturated in the colour, which affects every surface including all of us humans in there and apparently gives you a sense of immersion. I just felt a bit like I was standing in a red room, but maybe I didn’t give it enough of a chance…

A curtain led us into a room which contained ‘Slow arc inside a cube’, which was a lamp swirling around inside a cage projecting its shapes onto the walls and ceiling, which made me feel completely sick. Another strange offering was ‘Son et lumiere’ which looked like a cup stuck on an old camembert box, abandoned on a DJ turntable after a party.

In general though it was a unique and ingenious exhibit and an area of art I hadn’t really experienced before, and even if you only appreciate it on the ‘ooooh, twinkly lights!’ level, it’s still worth a visit.

Brixpig x

Taboo! The Musical

When: Sunday 3^rd March

Where: Brixton Clubhouse

Why: TimeOut bargain offer and because my mum loves Boy George

Ten years after it originally debuted in the West End and on Broadway, Taboo! the musical came back in a slightly revised version to the Brixton Clubhouse and I am SO glad it did. This show was like nothing else I’ve seen before. It’s not any old production that could be simultaneously grungy and fabulous, gritty and bitchy and hilarious. It follows roughly the story of Boy George’s early career, wrapped up in a made up story about another young boy (Billy) who comes to London to find fame and who gets wrapped up in a dark and creative world of excess and freakishness. The whole energy of the room before the start of the show was almost intimidating in its atmospheric, dimly-lit cabaret style seating. The Brixton Clubhouse has to be an ideal setting for this show as the venue’s actual bar becomes part of the staging, and gives an immediacy to many of the show’s club scenes and takes you back to the origins of the story itself. There are catwalks threading through the crowd, the cast loll on the bar and dance on the tables and after the interval the brilliant Paul Baker as Philip Sallon sweeps through the audience offering salmon pinwheels and slashing everyone down with his rapier wit (he culminated his ten minutes or so of audience participation by “sniffing out the lesbians” and sashaying off… brilliant, but also terrifying). There is basically nowhere for the audience to hide – they’re directly involved and right up close to the story and this brings it thuddingly close to home, especially at the dramatic collapse of Marilyn or when Sallon is attacked. It’s intimate and disconcerting and totally in your face.

The cast were SO ridiculously strong, I could not have been more impressed, and I don’t think I have ever seen such beautiful boys up close. Seriously, Paul Treacy and Luke Gage as George and Marilyn respectively were unbelievable: striking, vulnerable and just beautiful. Treacy had Boy George’s mannerisms and voice totally down, and his mesmerising hold over the naïve Billy (played deftly by Alex Jordan Mills) was totally believable. Sam Buttery as Leigh Bowery was also completely mental, but brilliant and outrageous, and not without pathos by the end, when he’s stripped down and being painted by Lucien Freud. Julia Worsley also stood out for me as Billy’s mum Josie, giving a vulnerable, gutsy and very engaging performance, solidified by her incredible voice (and amazing 80s styling!).

The costumes were insanely good, the songs were catchy and clear and I just felt like it was such a brave, crazy and colourful insight into a world I obviously knew nothing about. It’s a delicate balance to pull off something that’s equally emotional and savage, about such a creative and destructive world, but the direction and the casting for this performance were just perfect and I enjoyed it SO much.

Brixpig x  

Carmen

When: Friday 1^st March

Where: Albert Hall

Why: My mum found a special offer in the M&S magazine…

Other than a few hours sat in Durham castle’s great hall supporting my singing housemate at an ‘Opera favourites’ showcase, I don’t have any great experience of opera. I’ve seen the Phantom of it (film version) and obviously the classic ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’ (kill the wabbit!), but never a proper opera. And the only other show I’ve seen in the Albert Hall was John Barrowman a few years ago (sitting at the back screaming ‘nooooooooo!’ when he started to sing ‘Memory’…), so I thought I’d balance that out with something a bit classier.

Firstly, I have to point out that it took me a WHILE to realise that the cast were actually singing in English. I had expected it to be in French like the original (just assumed that you go to the opera and don’t understand what’s going on, standard), but even once I realised this it didn’t help much as it’s pretty hard to hear what they’re saying. Add in the fact that it’s set in Seville so they all have Spanish names and you don’t have a clue where you are. Some lines were all too clear however, which really led me to think that English is not a natural language for opera… At one point the mean lieutenant enters the bar room scene and exclaims “I let myself in!” which left mum and I in a prolonged fit of the giggles.  

The story is basically about a capricious and gutsy gypsy (Carmen, obv) who does some mega flirting with a soldier (Don Jose) who then abandons his childhood sweetheart for her. Things get a bit complicated when he kills his lieutenant in a bar, so he has to run away with Carmen who pretty much instantly gets bored of him. She then falls in love with a fit toreador (Escamillo – great casting, my mum was VERY impressed…), Don Jose is not happy about the situation and kills Carmen while she’s watching the toreador fight. Basically like a normal week on Spanish Eastenders. The actors/singers were all very accomplished and I thought Carmen’s voice was really brilliant, and managed to hold their own against the enthusiastic playing of the Royal Philharmonic.

The space did look great and the staging was inventive and worked well with all the crowd scenes – it was performed more or less in the round, as per the Albert Hall’s shape, and there was a raised platform snaking up to the main stage which was an effective device for all the approaching that went on… We were sitting quite high up and I had noticed that there were trees hanging amongst the Albert Hall’s famous ceiling smarties (that’s what people call them, right?), which were down on the stage after the interval for the scene where they’re all in the woods. The moment the scene changed and the trees rose slowwwwly and spookily back up into the heavens was another cause for hilarity; I couldn’t tell you why but maybe I was reacting to all the serious singing that was going on.

There were points especially at the beginning where I had no idea who was singing or where they were, as there was a lot of crowd action and vigorous milling around, and I thought Carmen was someone totally different for quite a long time, until it became really obvious. But the large scale action was very effective during the climactic bull-fight carnival scene, which was full of colour and action, acrobatics and flames and stilt-walkers… which kind of left the actual finale point of Carmen’s death feeling a bit flat, because after all the verve and bounce of the scene before, one sneaky struggle and stabbing which should have been intense and dramatic just felt a bit forced and uninteresting. I think this was because the show had been all about big scenes and spectacle and so you hadn’t invested so much in the individual characters or got to know them that well, so it was harder to switch over to that mode in the only scene which involved just two people. In general though, the singing and spectacle were pleasing and in parts quite gripping, and I think it was quite a good first opera to have experienced as it’s quite accessible.

I also noticed that the lyrics had been translated by Amanda Holden which caused a huge moment of confusion until I investigated. It’s a different Amanda Holden, obviously.

All in all, I’m not totally put off opera but think next time I’d go for something foreign language and on a smaller scale. Or just stick with Bugs Bunny.

Brixpig x