I had no expectations of
this gig, other than knowing that there was a chance my mum might pass out or
do something embarrassing. All I knew about Kris K was that he once starred in
‘A star is born’ opposite Barbra Streisand and was apparently a rock sex god.
Given that he’s now 78 however, I wasn’t sure how this would have played out
over the decades. I decided not to do any research but to take him as I found
him.
The Union Chapel was the
perfect venue for Mr K, partly since you can’t take booze into the church – the
image of an audience sat in pews with mugs of tea while a gentleman crooner
takes them through an endless journey of story songs will stay with me for a
long time. It was the sweetest, most civilised concert I think I’ve ever seen,
and was just absolutely lovely. I know it doesn’t sound thrilling, but
Kristofferson has a shining charisma and obvious heart which really draw you to
him and enraptures you, and this is clearly how he’s become a massive Country
star.
He opened with the
inviting assurance that “there ain’t nothing sweeter than naked emotions.” He
was effortlessly charming and deprecating, and his voice has a gentle country
music air and was very strong. His songs were short and sweet, capturing little
human stories or funny tales, quirky and cheeky and moving all in one. You’re
gathering in all the wisdom he’s gained over his fascinating life (Google him).
Plus he had more than one harmonica, which instantly made me love him.
At the end of the gig he
stayed on stage for ages greeting fans, chatting and grasping their hands as
they reached up to him (like the messiah on an altar). Obviously mum was
straight down there and, as she breathlessly recounted to me on the way back
down the aisle, “he held onto my hand much longer than anyone else!” Dreamy.
I’ve discovered a new
musical love, purely down to my mum. It’s so annoying that she’s always right.
Before I say ANYTHING, I have to provide the hugest of shout-outs to
the numerous girls in my office who sat with refreshing fingers poised on the
Ticketmaster website all those months ago, ready to bag me tickets for this
pinnacle of my life’s gigs. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have got in and
that would have devastated me, so in a sense they basically saved my life. Thanks
girls.
With my mum in tow, and after an exceptionally satisfying Nando’s
session (free chicken, bitches), we bounded into the O2 arena at least 45 minutes
before the start of the show, not able to hold back our excitement any
longer. A lifelong love of the Mac was finally reaching its nadir and the
anticipation was massive. Then suddenly, after no support (who could support the Mac?),
they burst onto the stage to ‘Second hand news’ and the audience leapt headlong
into an evening that I’m sure will stay with them for years.
It was a good value show at nearly 3 hours (considering most tickets
were around £90 it was just as well), and the band had great chemistry on stage
– it seems that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have put their deep mutual
hatred aside and become BFFs again, and it was very much the Stevie and Lindsey
show overall. Lindsey is an incredible guitar player and never left the stage
even for a moment, and his ‘Big Love’ solo was actually mind-blowing. I could
have done without his tedious song intros though – wrap it up, Bucks. But it
was Stevie who carried the evening for me; she’s the stand-out star and her voice
is still outrageously good. You just want to thank God for her existence
whenever she performs, and this night’s version of ‘Rhiannon’ was awesome. She
also dedicated ‘Landslide’ to the Mac’s original legendary guitarist Peter
Green, who to my massive surprise was apparently watching from the wings – I
really thought he had died decades ago and that Stevie was talking
metaphorically (not entirely impossible) until I googled him when things got
weird. Ignorance city: population me.
The visuals and lighting were more impressive than I’d been expecting,
imagining the band to do it old school and keep the focus on them – but the
backing screen videos were varied and very cool, particularly during ‘Gold
dust woman’ and the epic ‘Tusk’ (one of my favourite Mac songs ever).
After a solid gold set-list, the first encore featured huge tune ‘World
turning’ which incorporated Mick Fleetwood’s mad, bad drum solo which lasted
nearly five minutes. An Observer
reviewer described Mick on this tour as “an increasingly jester-like figure,
sitting worryingly near a gong” which is both hysterical and totally accurate.
I was also massively lucky that I didn’t end up getting tickets for the
first night in London, as they didn’t get the amazing bonus in the second
interval that was the return of Christine McVie to sing ‘Don’t Stop’. She was
led on stage, followed by a faithful stand up keyboard and the most enormous
roar of approval from a crowd that I’ve ever heard. It was a genuinely
emotional and historical moment and was the natural and obvious high point of
the show. She was great and I hear she’s now actually re-joined Fleetwood Mac,
so we can just hope they launch straight into another tour featuring the full
line up and full back catalogue (her tunes such as ‘Everywhere’, ‘You make
loving fun’, ‘Little lies’, ‘Songbird’ etc were missing this time, which was a massive shame).
Given that Christine’s return was a huge high point and their joint
curtain call was so well received, you would have thought that would be the
natural ending point. But no. A second encore ensued – not against that in
principle, but it was a bit of a lame duck after the massiveness that was
C-McVie. They didn’t end on huge crowd pleasers but on slow tunes including
‘Silver springs’. These were then followed by grateful spiels of love from
first Stevie running back on stage, then Mick. Nice sentiments, wrong timing
guys. Although Mick wrapping up by screaming “THE MAC IS BACK!” was endearing
and powerful.
Overall, an epic evening from an epic band and one of the highlights of
my life.
The last time I saw West Side Story, it was a hugely impressive student
version which reduced an elderly gent at the end of my row to huge racking
sobs. A friend featured as a Shark and before bringing the house down with her
excellent performance, she also brought our student house down in hysterics the
week before the performance due to her incredibly deep “Puerto-Rican” spray
tan. Good times.
There were no mildly offensive spray tans in this classy performance at
Saddlers Wells, however – just some beautiful choreography and awe-inspiring
dancing. I do love the balletic, unrealistic stylised dancing that always
features in West Side Story – they are the least menacing gangs ever, I’m sure
you’ll all agree, but it doesn’t seem to matter when you’ve got cracking music
and moves. The story is almost of secondary importance, at least to me anyway. ‘America’
with the fabulous Shark girls was easily my high point – their energy was incredible.
I also always love Maria’s impassioned rebellion at the climax of the play,
defending Tony’s body til the very end – makes a change from her previous naive
sweetness and gives her a bit more dimension.
Weak points for me were Tony’s voice (good god he was nasal), and the
dream ballet scene was super, super cringey and mis-used in my opinion – I was
desperate for it to be beautiful, but it was just a bit naff. If you have to
dress everyone in white to show it’s a dream, you’re doing it wrong.
Most enjoyable evening of theatre though, and for £12 sat up in the
second circle you can’t go wrong!
Why: Eve Barlow (@Eve_Barlow)
recommended them on twitter as sounding a bit like a blue-haired Florence and
the Machine so I had a listen and loved them.
I think the Electric Ballroom might be my spiritual home. I had one of
the most Nineties evenings of my life, it was incredible. It’s a good
old-school venue, scruffy but not grubby, with cheap red stripe and a load of
cooling air pumping around the whole time which as a frequent over-heater, I
was delighted by. Big fan.
There was lead up music in the form of a DJ set by Charli XCX, and
support from the awesome Thumpers (@Thumpers) who are great, kind of cheerful
and dancy (they’re officially describe as ‘alt pop’ but I don’t know what that
means).
This was MS MR’s biggest gig to date as headliners, and their
excitement was obvious right from the start – they were smiling constantly,
overwhelmed, grateful and utterly endearing. Their energetic dancing and
enthusiastic stage presence was so charming and super cool. They had a
distinctly Nineties aura about them in some ways – there was a definite feel of
Garbage on that stage, and lead singer Lizzy’s outfit of tie-dyed hair and
spotty leggings wouldn’t have looked out of place on me at a year 5 disco. But
like, in a really really good way (I wish I’d been that cool). The music was
absolutely brilliant; Lizzy’s voice is stunning and the gig was really polished
and flowed perfectly. Their music is kind of vintage grungy, cool but tuneful,
and immense to dance to. They finished on their debut single ‘Hurricane’ and the
crowd went wild. Throughout the gig they got a huge response from the crowd,
with genuine love and enthusiasm hurled right back at them from the audience.
It was one of the most friendly crowds I’ve ever been in and it made for a
great atmosphere in an ideal venue. If I can ever catch MS MR live again I
wouldn’t hesitate to get myself down there.
The Union Chapel was the
perfect venue for Mr K, partly since you can’t take booze into the church – the
image of an audience sat in pews with mugs of tea while a gentleman crooner
takes them through an endless journey of story songs will stay with me for a
long time. It was the sweetest, most civilised concert I think I’ve ever seen,
and was just absolutely lovely. I know it doesn’t sound thrilling, but
Kristofferson has a shining charisma and obvious heart which really draw you to
him and enraptures you, and this is clearly how he’s become a massive Country
star. 
