The Album Chart Show @ KoKo, 8th February 2010

Cold feet, warm heart

It’s always nice to have a freebie. Especially an unexpected one. And it’s surprising how many free nights out there are to be had in London if you look in the right places and have the right friends. Anyway, I was the grateful recipient of a spare ticket to the Album Chart Show recording on Monday, which seems to happen every week at KoKo in Camden.

A quick moan before I get started – I know I shouldn’t really as it was a free night out but even so – doors were supposed to open at 6.15pm so we turned up just before 6pm to hear the announcement that doors were pushed back an hour. And did I mention that it was snowing? Brilliant. I mean, they record this show every week, you’d really expect them to have a much better handle on how long things will take and when to tell people to arrive. It meant that when they finally let us in at about 7.30pm to see the first act on the bill, JLS, they had quite a cold and grumpy audience who weren’t particularly excited about all the clapping and cheering they were asked to do for pick up shots and the like. The delays continued all night, with JLS having to do some retakes because of technical difficulties (I felt quite sorry for them). Things were so delayed that I had to leave before final act The Courteeners made it on stage.


Anyway, back to JLS. They are one of my favourite outputs from the X-Factor phenomenon (NB. This isn’t saying very much – we were just grateful that it wasn’t Jedward) and I actually really enjoyed their performance. One of my compatriots was very unimpressed by the amount of miming going on, but they were doing some dancing that would have made singing impossible, and they did sing live for a few of the tracks where the dancing requirement was reduced, including an acoustic number accompanied by a guitar. The boys from the band came over really well – they chatted to the crowd in between songs (and yes it was mostly self promotion about their tour and new single but they didn’t have to bother as they obviously weren’t playing to their home crowd) and they really tried hard to get the audience going. I was pleasantly surprised and I may well be investigating a purchase of their album soon.


Next up was supposed to be The Courteeners, but a man-flu suffering Mika was pushed up the bill as he wasn’t at all well. He looked quite poorly but pulled out another ridiculously high-energy performance out of the bag. The man bounces round like he’s made of rubber, and you couldn’t hear anything wrong with his voice. You could see his extremely excellent band were making an extra effort to support him, and they managed 5 out of the planned 6 song set, including Relax, Blame it on the Girls, Grace Kelly, rain and Big Girls (the finale was due to be We Are Golden, but I guess that was a step too far). The crowd went mental for the guy – he had the benefit of a sympathy vote as well as being amazingly good. There was silver and gold confetti released from the ceiling during Big Girls (they seemed to like that at the Album Chart Show – JLS had the multi-coloured version at the end of their set. I can only assume it looks good on TV) which got EVERYWHERE, to the point that the last bit didn’t come off me until I had a shower the following morning. Nice.


As I already mentioned, I made a swift retreat once Mika was finished and missed The Courteeners. Having seen them support the Stereophonics back in 2008 I hadn’t been particularly struck by them but I understand from my friends who stayed to the end of the evening that they were rather good. I guess I’ll have to watch the show on Friday to find out!

This episode of Album Chart Show will be shown on Channel 4 on Friday 12th February at 11.20pm

Mika @ Union Chapel, 18th November 2009

Little Noise, Big Impact

It seems to be the season for charity gigs at the moment. Hot on the heels of David Arnold's Concert for CARE and Gary Barlow's Children In Need extravaganza at the Royal Albert Hall comes Jo Whileys' annual series of concerts in aid of Mencap. What gives these 'Little Noise Sessions' an edge is the venue in which they take place. The Union Chapel is, as the name suggests, a church in Islington. It's quite square, has an upstairs balcony and amazing acoustics. The little noise element comes in to play as the acts all have to play unplugged.


Jo Whiley, as befitting her reputation as a champion of new music, always makes sure that there is some new talent on show as well as the big name draws (also known as 'bulking out the bill'). Tonight we were treated to the 16 year old Daisy Dares You, who was pretty good although I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to see her again (looks like Pixie Geldorf, talks like Birds of a Feather). Next up was Alex Gardner, who for reasons I can't quite fathom is part of the Xenomania stable (which includes Girls Aloud and Mini Viva). Maybe his usual sets are a bit more poppy but at the Union Chapel he came across as more of a traditional singer-songwriter, albeit accompanied by a band. He sounded pretty good to me but that's quite a crowded spot he's aiming for.


Due next to the stage was Paloma Faith, who I didn't know much about but was very intrigued to hear. Unfortunately she pulled out late on as she had apparently lost her voice, which left us with half an hour to get a cup of hot chocolate and take it back to our pew (yes really!!).

At this point you begin to wonder if the £44 (inc. booking fee) you paid for the ticket still seems like a good idea. Unlike last year, several of the Little Noise sessions haven't sold out, and I can only put that down to the relatively high cost of the ticket - yes, it's for charity but £44 is a lot of money, especially if the second biggest name on the bill doesn't turn up.

However all was not lost as it was the quire frankly astonishing MIKA who was headlining the bill. He chose to open with his biggest hit to date, in a move that was either brave or foolhardy. As it turned out it was neither but actually a stroke of full on, certified brilliance. Performing with Mika for the whole evening were a male vocal group called the King's Singers, who are an incredibly accomplished group (check out their website here) and sound like a cross between a clear-as-a-bell pipe organ and a barber shop quartet. In a good way.


Anyway, for the first half of Grace Kelly, Mika and the singers performed a capella building the mood and the tension until the res of the band kicked in. It sounded so fresh and full of life, which I think is the best description of Mika I could possibly make. He, the singers and the band performed a lovely unique set that move me seemlessly from goosebumps to dancing and back again. Mika's voice is fantastic and worked really well with the precision of the King's Singers, who incidently looked like they were having a great time. They gave special treatments to all of Mika's hits, including the new single Rain, Big Girls, Relax and We Are Golden, including an encore with the band on dustbin drums.


Mika's gigs seem to have a habit of leaving you feeling fantastic and this one was extra special, with the venue and the set up making the sound just that little more incredible. Somehow the £44 now feels like a pretty good deal.

Mika's second album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, is out now

Later with Jools Holland, 29th September 2009

Where the magic happens

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get tickets to see a recording of Later with Jools Holland for ages – they are so heavily over subscribed that they are like gold dust. However I struck the jackpot this time round thanks to a benevolent friend who couldn’t make it.

The reason that Later is so popular is because they have the best musicians on the show. And the reason that they need the best musicians is that they broadcast live, so they need to be right on the top of their games. A quick mention for the production staff at this point, who are fantastic and manage to do such a horrifically complicated job. Each evening they film Later they are actually producing two shows – a longer pre-recorded version that goes out at the weekend, and a half hour version that is broadcast live. All the bands are on their own stages at the same time around the edge of the studio, and the cameras move from on to the other pretty much seamlessly with Jools navigating his way through the middle. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with that bit – if it goes wrong then you’re completely sunk.

Anyway, the line up while I was there was:

Shakira
Gladys Knight
The Cribs
Mika
The XX
The Duke and The King

Which I reckon is pretty good value for money. Especially as it was free.

The star of the evening had to be Gladys Knight who sounds just amazing and is actual pop royalty. I really wish I had been able to see her on tour in the UK as she is just divine. The tone of her voice is just so rich and deep, and she is really economical with it. What I mean is that she only uses it to add to the song and the emotion she projects, rather than warbling all over the place just for the hell of it like some other singers I could mention. Mariah Carey please take note.



Shakira was also good but she was the one that needed the most retakes for the pre-recorded version, although to be fair I think they were more to do with the sound than her specifically. She seemed the most rehearsed and had more dance routines and props than everyone else put together. She was also the biggest diva – we were stood next to her stage and she spent the whole time she wasn’t singing fussing about her hair or her jewellery and getting members of her (rather large) entourage to fix them for her.

Mika was, as usual, utterly fab despite a slight sound issue on the live show. Also, he had manaed to secure some of the tickets for members of his fan club, which was just so nice. It caused a huge headache for the production staff though, as they were the only ones who hadn’t taken on board the dress code (dark colours) and were standing out like sore thumbs at the front of the audience.

I was interested to her The XX as lots has been written about them (NB this was when the band was still a four piece) and they seemed ok. Maybe they are just too cool for me (very likely) but they didn’t seem that special to me. I have to say that the same applies to The Cribs – not my kind of music I have to say.

But overall a brilliant evening and an interesting insight into how they actually put a show like that together. I must try and get tickets again!

If anyone ever has any spare tickets to see Later being recorded then please drop me a line!

MIKA @ The Roundhouse, 31st July 2009

Kerching-ah!

I must admit that I went to the final night of the iTunes festival with relatively low expectations. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to come and see the man himself with me, so I went on my own and, as is so often the case, met some really nice people on the way.

Being an iTunes Festival veteran by now I turned up at exactly the right time to see the full set of support act Erik Hassle. Unfortunately, my smugness was ruined by the face that they had arsed around with the timings as the beginning of Mika’s set was being broadcast live on ITV2 and I arrived half way through. From what I saw, Erik Hassle was pretty good AND has preposterous hair (think ginger Mr Whippy or male La Roux), which seems to be de rigueur at the moment.



Up front I will tell you that Mika’s set was awesome. The main reasons for this are as follows:

1. They covered the whole stage in silver glitter, the only act I saw at The Roundhouse who personalised the stage. There was also a glitter cannon (awesome) which means I was picking silver confetti out of my bag / clothes / shoes for days afterwards
   
   
   
2. There was a whole choir with slightly mental silver sparkly cardboard hats
   
3. MIKA looked like something out a Clockwork Orange if they had been dressed in white dungarees and had top hats. Well, the eye make up was similar anyway
   
4. He played all the old brilliant songs and also some new ones, which is always a good mix
   
5. MIKA can really sing. And play the piano. And jump about like a lunatic. And throw buckets full of glitter over the crowd in true clown style
   
6. They did an encore
   
7. The encore included the introduction of dozens of huge balloons into the crowd for us to play with
   

See I told you. UNDENIABLY AWESOME.


Ultimately it was actually one of the most fun gigs I’ve been to in a long time. MIKA has boundless energy and all the songs really came alive in the live environment. I definitely will be going to see him on his next tour.

MIKA’s new single “We are Golden” is out on September 7th