Giggage - And What I Thought

Now, I know this is generally a Rock Music site, but I like to vary my music intake and once in a while you'll see a review like this:



Melody Gardot
Bush Hall
1 May 2008

I've never been to Bush Hall before.
a) because I've never heard of it.
b) I tend to avoid west London.
But after stepping into the understated building and seeing the intimate, yet opulent room (chandeliers for crying out loud!) I couldn't imagine a better suited venue for a Gardot performance.
Coming straight from a long day at work, cold beer in hand, I grabbed a seat close to the low stage. Time to mellow...

The Mercury Men opened the night. This three guitar playing piece is very reminiscent of artists such as James Blunt, John Meyer and (dare I mention it) Lonestar. Yep, there was definitely a country twang to their tunes. Not too unpleasant and judging by the crowd, a perfect opening act.

The crowd in question was made up of those young professionals who worshipped Sex and the City, own Norah Jones cds and pretty much live the yuppie life. Wearing a Linkin Park t-shirt was not a good idea.

Moving on.

Miss Gardot took her place on the stage alone and opened the night doing 'No More My Love' a capella. Her voice was a little shaky with nerves, but the song soon filled out with the audience joining in. Her band soon joined her on stage for the rest of the show. She relaxed, cracked a joke and began to weave 'Sweet Memory' over the audience. The audience was silent during the entire number before breaking into loud applause after the last note had been sung. This set the precedent for the rest of the show. It was as if each song was a spell that bound the audience and as soon as it was over, the audience broke their stupor by clapping. An amazingly gloomy, heartbreaking cover of 'Ain't No Sunshine' followed. Cheese free. This is no easy feat for a song as well known as that.
Taking a sip of water afterwards she joked with the crowd in a thick New York accent.

'They asked me to play jazz. If I'd been playing rock and roll, that would be vodka.'

Her title track and Bill Withers cover 'worrisome Heart' send goosebumps along my arms. With each song, her stage confidence grew. Especially with the audience so close and near, it can be intimidating. 'All I need is Love (and chocolate and shoes and..)' and 'quiet fire' took us through to 'Love Me Like A River'.

'Enough songs about me begging for love. This is a song about how you must love me.'

'Goodnite' brought the evening to a very satisfactory end. But not before thralling and teasing us with a drum vs double bass dual. Not to be outdone by her band, Melody had a little duet with the trumpet before doing a verse in french. Mere words cannot describe the utter cool factor of that episode.

The yuppies demanded and encore.

Melody supplied us with an anecdote about her grandmother before sending us home with 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'. But sung in a way that only Ms Gardot could have nailed.
The yuppies and I went home very happy.

BUT WAIT!!!

I have more....




The Wombats
Brixton Academy
3-5-08

The Wombats. Those three little, mischievous lads from Liverpool with their marsupial mascot sold out the Brixton Academy. I think its more to do with their infectious indie pop tunes than their looks. Most definitely.

I missed the first opening band, but caught I Was A Cub Scout doing their set. Not as good as some, but better than others, I expect big things from that band. Maybe a few more hooks in their tunes.

Anticipation builds as the kids enjoy a mass sing along to Vampire Weekend's A Punk playing over the PA system. Now they'd be a band to go see.
The lights die down and three lads strut onto the stage to stand around a single mic. They kick off with opening track 'Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials'. Again, mass singing from the sea of kids on the main floor. 'Kill the Director' brings a look of 'Oh so that's who they are' to a lot of parents faces. The band stomps right through it and onto 'School Uniforms' before ripping the crowd up with 'Lost in The Post'.

'This next song is a waltz'

'Laura' lulled the crowd from a frenzy down to a riot. 'Here Comes The Anxiety' (one of my personal favourites) just mixed it up into chaos! 'Dr Suzanne PhD' saw a quick bar break for everyone.

'I've definitely had more boring Saturday nights'

For our treat, we were the first to hear a new tune from the boys - 'How To Pack Your Bags'. Cute little waltzy number.
Afraid of losing more to the bar, the band whipped out 'Movin to New York'. This had us bopping. 'Patricia the Stripper' had us boogying. 'Little Miss Pipedream' had us finding a refill. And then the sneaking little buggers pulled the rug out from under our feet with 'Let's dance to Joy Division.' Not a body was left sitting. Everyone danced to this most infectious use of irony ever written.
And then the stage was empty.

The theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey filled the hall.

A 10ft inflatable wombat wearing sunglasses came down from the ceiling.

'My First Wedding' and 'Backfire at the Disco' sent us on our merry way.

I feel a special mention must be made about the amazing light show they had going on behind the band. They even had disco balls for the final number. An excellent show, which perfectly justifies why they sold out the academy on their debut album.