That was quite a moving week, wasn't it? With the elections and not knowing what is going to happen next: did David Cameron win the elections as his party has the largest share of seats or did he lose since he hasn't been able to create a majority, something that hasn't happened for 36 years? And which of the losers (as it's quite clear both Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown lost) will now form a goverment? Luckily, there's always music to keep your mind of these nasty thoughts.Best Coast/Yuck/Philadelphia Grand Jury @ Mme Jojo's
Something 'light' to start of this week of musical madness: 6 gigs in one week again, and I don't get to see everyone I'd like to! First choice to make is whether Best Coast and Yuck are preferred over High Places and Bachelorette, and it turns out they are. Before said bands are seen in a live setting that is. Philadelphia Grand Jury - or Philly J's, as they'd like themselves to be called (I guess they've realised that lengthy names only really work on Sufjan Stevens albums) - are a great opening band. They're energetic, don't seem to give a fuck (excusez le mot) that absolutely no one is there to see them play and just go for it, ending with a rendition of Jay-Z's 99 problems which I actually don't hate. Good for them!
Yuck, a band who have been on the receiving end of some good old blogosphere praise lately, fail to leave a real impression that lasts after having seen the rest of the bands I have seen this week. The same holds true for Best Coast. Their set is rather messy, with the three band members having different ideas about what the setlist looks like, though they do seem to have copies of the same thing. Bethany Cosentino just doesn't seem to care that much about what we think of what she's doing on stage. And was that drummer the girl from Vivian Girls? It's been bothering me all week!
The National/Buke and Gass @ The Electric Ballroom
Now there's a name that causes me to drop everything and delve into that emergency fund I've created in case David Bowie ever decides to do live gigs again - and if he were to do so (Glastonbury's birthday is coming up, rumours are still alive and strong), could he then please wait just a couple more weeks so I can replenish this fund of mine?
Buke and Gass, hailing from Brooklyn, are opening for The National and they may just be the next Sufjan Stevens, but absolutely no one wants to listen to some experimental guitar jingle jangling whilst waiting impatiently for their favourite band (we can soundly establish The National being the favourite band of every single man in the audience - and I say man as at least 90% was male). I don't even feel like googling their names as even writing about this makes me anxious about getting to the bit where the National actually comes in. Oh I even love reliving the anticipation! The eloquence of Stephen Fry and Joanna Newsom combined wouldn't suffice to describe the brilliance of the National in a live setting, but I will give it a try.
And enter dramatic walk-in music... Lights are dimmed and the shared excitement becomes almost tangible as the eight (!) men that make up the National on this tour enter the stage and take up their positions while Matt Berninger pours himself a glass of wine and takes some time to tape his lyrics to the floor (surprisingly, nobody shouts "The English are waiting" during this interval). As this is the first official gig to promote their fifth album High Violet, this entire album is featured on the setlist, starting with 'Anyone's ghost', which of course everyone knows by heart already. Matt Berninger even faintly tries to excuse us by mentioning the album was streamed on NPR, before exclaiming that he doesn't care anyway (and why should you as every single person in that room was intending to rush to the nearest record on the day it was going to come out anyway?). 'Afraid of Everyone' is next, and sounds remarkably likes the first song. Any initial disappointment is however erased from the minds of the audience by the sheer brilliance of what is to come: 'Secret Meeting', 'Bloodbuzz Ohio', 'Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks' (I've been singing this all week in the shower), 'Slow Show', 'Mistaken for Strangers' and 'Squalor Victoria'. OMG. I absolutely broke at 'Slow Show', only just managing not to turn into a complete blobbering mess, to be topped by 'Mistaken for Strangers' and maybe the best ever version of 'Squalor Victoria'. And at this point, we're not even halfway through the setlist.
One could accuse the National of being a band that depends on sad songs, leaving you bereaved and disheartened, but as Matt kindly explains before 'Sorrow', that is quite the opposite of what they intend. By singing about these sad things, you manage to give them a place which results in an uplifting feeling. A statement with which I can only concur, especially when 'Apartment Story' is next. I'd like to stay in that rosy-minded fuzz for days, to throw in a cliché. The National's closing statement starts with 'England', which is of course absolutely fabulous to hear while you're in England, but can't quite measure up to 'Abel' or 'About Today'. And can I add a note to my future husband here, saying that he might be obliged to get married to this song? (so I like 'Slow Show' better with the whole "I wanna hurry home to you" bit, but "I made a mistake in my life today" is probably not a sentence you would like to hear that day - but maybe I have given this just a bit too much thought given that I'm single and years away from getting married anyway) (on an editor’s note, ‘About Today’ is probably THE song not to get married to, you know, with the “How close am I to losing you” bit).
But of course there is also an encore, a four track long one even! 'Runaway', a song that did not quite work for me on the album, is truly great in a live setting. But then again, it's followed by such utter brilliance that it does seem to be a bit bleak in hindsight. 'Fake Empire' and 'Mr November' are the obvious choices and although you know exactly what to expect, you are completely blown away. Matt jumps in the audience during 'Mr November', seemingly to get to every single person in the audience as he manages to get to the farthest back of the venue, ending up screaming "I'm Mr November! I won't fuck us over!" whilst standing almost next to me. Amazing, my life is complete (except for seeing Mr Bowie life, but that's only a minor glitch by now). He manages to get back to the stage to start singing 'Terrible Love' only to immediately dive into the audience again. For me, Mr November is still the better track, and has more energy to really end on a high, but as I touched Matt Berninger (twice!) it did that anyway. Oh, now to wait for the chance to see them again!
The National/Buke and Gass @ The Royal Albert Hall
But wait, I can see them again! And the very next day, as their Electric Ballroom gig was just a warm-up for this event at the Royal Albert Hall. Another option would have been to go see Deerhunter, but with The National that's just not really a choice. This time round, I'm not as deprived as the day before, so I can actually manage to listen to Buke and Gass, who are quite good (though certainly not the new Sufjan Stevens). It's all a bit experimental, similar to Wildbirds and Peacedrums, but with a bit less jazz and a bit more country (luckily only a bit).
Compared to the first day of their duo of London dates, this one was both better and worse. Better in that the sound quality was much improved (in the Electric Ballroom the bass started resonating every time they used an Em chord - which they use a lot), but it was seated. And yes, everyone was standing by the third track, but only in front of their neatly arranged chairs. Not that it really mattered, 'Slow Show' still shattered me to pieces. As this night was supposedly 'the real thing' Matt Berninger refrained from taping his lyrics to the floor. Oh, and if only he had! Twice they attempt to play 'Baby, We'll be Fine' but both times Matt forgets his lyrics and they then just abandoned the whole thing, leaving me feeling a bit bereaved as it might have been the second track of the evening that I hadn't already heard the night before. The other one being 'All the Wine' in the encore, which is similar to the one the other night. But as it is election night this time, 'Mr November' just gets that bit of extra meaning, getting everyone's hopes up to seeing Nick Clegg getting his way when they get home. Again, Matt goes for the audience, and even tries to get to the circle seats on the first floor, but only his microphone manages to get there (kudos for the amazingly long cable). This night, 'About Today' is the show stopper, and how much more befitting it is than 'Terrible Love'! And how disheartening to go home and see a blue picture of England indicating the Tories are winning...
Rob Ince's School for Gifted Children: Module one(featuring Prof Brian Cox, Marcus Brigstocke, Simon Singh, Adam Rutherford, Tim Minchin and others)
But hey, lighten up! There's always comedy to make one feel better, and if you combine that with a load of science you've certainly got my attention (oh, I wish I was an experimental high energy particle physicist). Though to be honest, I only bought a ticket in the first place because Prof Brian Cox was on the bill, and I am absolutely in love with his pronunciation of the word 'wonderful' (he said it at least twice, so I got my money's worth). Without really going into details, as I am aware that comedy for science geeks has a very limited audience and would probably only work in London anyway, I would just like to say that I was completely blown away and might have to start reading everything Carl Sagan has ever written. The picture on the right came up twice during this night. Carl Sagan called it 'The pale blue dot'. It was taken by Voyager 1 in 1991 as it was leaving our solar system and shows the earth suspended in a ray of sunshine. It shows the immense fragility of our planet, but at the same time that pale blue dot is the place where all our heroes have lived, all our wars have been fought, our entire history has happened (the actual quote is much more eloquent, but I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of the Sagan book yet). Also, it was absolutely heart-warming to spend this night in room full of hopeful LibDem voters (go Evan Harris!).
Foals/Jonquil @ The Ansom Rooms (Bristol)
Yeah, I can be short on this: whereas the former night was spend in the company of LibDem voters, 95% of the audience in Bristol wasn't old enough to vote. Also, Foals played the EXACT SAME SETLIST AS IN KINGSTON! I could, much to my own annoyance, predict each and everyone song. So this was the last time I've seen them, and Jonquil weren't my thing either (bit of a Vampire Weekend/Foals mix). Best bit was seeing what Ed Droste would look like if he hadn't been awake for five consecutive weeks - and may I say that is pretty fine? Oh, if only I had gone to the Pavement is rad day at the Windmill in Brixton, they had a free bbq!
PS. Bristol is very nice though. Do go to Start the bus, they've got excellent hippy burgers.
PPS. And for those of you who notice that I've mentioned six gigs but only have written about five: well, the last one was one of my flatmates performing at the Wigmore, which apparently is a really big deal. But as I was fighting to not fall asleep, others were fighting to keep in their tears. So I don't think I could write anything sensible about that one.
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