London, Gigs, Dead, Dance.

So despite my original vague plans to spend a week or so in London, I'm now coming to the end of my third week here, thanks to some folks showing up. Thankfully, I now have some internets to keep me company. So I figured I might exploit said internets to give some thoughts about the gigs I've seen while here.

The first was fun. I was already rather fond of them, having apparently, probably in retrospect undeservedly, declared their album the 6th best of 2009. It was pure pop action, among an absurdly enthusiastic audience much of whom seemed to know all the words to all their songs. I'd be inclined to suggest that the frontman, Nate Ruess, was one of the most egoistic musicians I've ever seen on a stage, but frankly it might just be that the audience loved him, and he kinda knew it. They played possibly all of their album, plus an entertaining but fairly conservative rendition of Radio Gaga. In the end, my opinion of fun. was pretty unchanged; I left thinking I would've loved to have seen The Format live, and convinced that while fun. are not nearly as good as Ruess' former band, they could really become something quite excellent.

The second, the following day, was a bit of a gear shift, a classical concert. And maaaan am I going to get dirty looks for this, but I've totally forgot the name of the person playing. I've also forgotten what she played. I remember there was some Rossini played, though not by the violinist who everyone was there to see... And I prefered the Rossini to the... Whatever else was played. Man, I'm really not very good at this bit, am I? Anyway, I enjoyed it enough, but as tends to be the case with me and classical music, it failed to really grab me.

The third, the next day, was a mathcore band from Sheffield called Rolo Tomassi. This was kinda insane and intense, featuring a tiny girl screaming in a demon voice, a throbbing moshpit, and some kind of epic guitarwork that I can barely work my brain around. I loved the experience, even if I couldn't totally appreciate the music on the same level as most of the audience. I definitely noticed prefering what I gathered was their more recent stuff more than their less recent stuff... But that's about as insightful as I get on this one.

The fourth, the day after, making four in a row, was planned well in advance, Bobby McFerrin at the Barbican. Now this was quite a thing. A room full of people who loved him on so many levels... Probably no one there who would have the reaction of most people I mentioned this to, of "What else did he do other than Don't Worry Be Happy?" I suspect I was into the concert less than most of the audience, as... There were parts that didn't totally thrill me. In brief, I loved it when he really involved the audience, getting everyone singing (filling that part of my heart that loves singing in large, anonymous groups), or having little duets with random audience members... I also really enjoyed the choral pieces from his most recent album. What didn't thrill me, though it may've been the primary attraction for some, were many of his solo, purely vocal improvisational pieces. Eeeeeh, I don't know, I'm sure that musically he was doing some good things, and on a virtuosity level his voice is definitely amazing... But there wasn't much there for me to really get emotionally involved with, besides maybe just... Joy. He's big on that particular emotion.

The final gig, 2 weeks later, from which I have just returned, was Brendan Perry. This was great. The audience was about 50% aging goths and 45% ex-goths, but Brendan Perry... He plays the good kind of Goth Rock. Or Dream Pop as I prefer to tag it. The set was comprised of about 50% songs I recognised, some originally by Dead Can Dance, some from his first solo album, and 50% new stuff from his latest album (which sounds like it'll be top notch). His stage banter was lousy/non-existent, which really stood out when an instrument died and he should've been filling for time, but all of the music was excellent. I've always thought I'd love to see a Dead Can Dance concert, and... Well, I'd still love to, as the other half of that band, Lisa Gerrard, does a very distinct, and also very excellent thing. Anyway, it's fast coming to my attention that, having just seen this performance, I am far too gushing to actually say anything worthwhile, so let's just say that I am so glad to have heard Brendan Perry singing The Carnival Is Over live, and can cross it off my list of Things To Hear Before I Or The Concerned Parties Die. My hypothetical list of that nature. Here's a strange video of The Carnival Is Over. Maybe it's not for everyone, but it's certainly for me.



(Next week: back to St. Andrews, back to doing some gorram work...)