Tubelord at Buffalo Bar, Cardiff. 3rd October 2010.

See that word in the title there? The 'Cardiff' one? Yes, I've moved to the Welsh-land! And it was only after moving all the way to Cardiff that I finally managed to see a band I've been getting more and more into, who hail from my hometown of Kingston, go figure!

Set in the very edgy photo-plastered upstairs room in Buffalo Bar (which does a good pie in the downstairs restaurant), a great line-up of past and present Big Scary Monsters bands gave us a highly entertaining show, starting with Muscle Club, Tall Ships, and finally headliners, Tubelord.

Muscle Club gave a really strong performance to start the night off, some really punchy tunes and strong vocals that had a maturity exceeding the guys' boyish good looks! Since I hadn't really heard much of their material before, they definitely warrant some more research.

I've been fortunate enough to see Tall Ships some 3 times now, and they're incredible every time. It's not often you get to see a band who are so talented that they regularly swap instruments, create such a rich and varied sound, whilst having a great time on stage as they cheekily grin their way through the set. These guys have quite a following now, with most of the audience singing along to tracks like 'Vessels'. As part of their new EP release on 25th October (go buy it!), they also played new song, 'Plate Tectonics', "dedicated to anyone that likes rocks", and I can honestly say that after the massive build of tension that carried the whole audience along with it, everyone just stood there gobsmacked once they'd finished. They're bloody good.

Last but not least, Tubelord. Sporting a slightly different formation than usual, with borrowed vocals from Alan Welsh from Tangled Hair, as usual frontman Joe Prendergast had reportedly mislaid his voice. Or lost it, whatever. While Alan put in a damn good effort - after all, it can't be easy singing someone else's songs, especially when he's bashing away on the guitar behind you, probably itching to be able to do the job himself - it wasn't quite the same as Joe has a set of pretty distinctive vocal chords that do really lend themselves to the songs. Despite this, it was a better choice than cancelling, and the performance was really enjoyable.

I may just have to go and see them again once Joe is fully recovered. Maybe just for research purposes...Maybe because they're achingly good...Maybe to see if they play 'Synthesize' next time, please...

Kings of Leon, Hyde Park, 30/6/10

There's nothing better than booking some exciting gig tickets, looking forward to it for months, waiting for the date to slowly tick round. But managing to scavenge a ticket just a couple of days before the gig and having the excitement thrust upon you all at once ain't half bad either. With doors at 2.30pm on a Wednesday afternoon, it also provides a major plus to being currently out of work (though just don't mention the matter of trying to pay for the pricey ticket).

To be fair, there was a lot of music for your money, as KoL were supported by The Features, The Whigs, The Drums and The Black Keys (my friend had mistakenly thought it was the Black Eyed Peas...not sure if 'I Gotta Feelin' ' would've gone down so well in this crowd). The Features are signed to the Kings of Leon's partly owned label 'Imprint', and The Whigs previously supported the guys on the 'Only By The Night' tour, so it's a pretty friendly outfit. Hotly tipped band, The Drums, gave a solid performance of their laid back quirky rock, big hit 'Let's Go Surfing' was a particular high point. Finally, The Black Keys, whose latest album 'Brothers' has caused a bit of a stir, also got the crowd going, but seemed to leave behind the material from the six (six!) previous albums which any die hard fans may have found a little disappointing.

On to the headliners, I'd had a niggling worry in the back of my mind all day before these guys came on stage after hearing somewhat underwhelming things about their headlining performance at Reading last year. Luckily, it seems Hyde Park agrees with them. Frontman Caleb Followill was pretty chatty, clearly humbled by the size of the concert they'd managed to sell out. He even went as far to say that the gig was one of the best experiences of his life. Bless. There were definite advantages to seeing them in between album promotions as the guys played a fairly even mix between all four of their albums - releases and album tracks - as well as a handful of new songs that still have working titles 'Immortals', 'Radioactive' and 'Southbound', which made the forthcoming album seem pretty tempting. Adding to this the fact that they played a cheeky cover of The Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind', which went down very well, a good time was had by all. The one let down, due to no fault of the band, was their performance of 'Sex On Fire' - the song that catapulted them to mainstream international stardom has now been so overplayed, taken over by radio stations like Heart FM, and found it's way into even my mother's musical consciousness...it just doesn't have the same effect it once did when it was released a couple of years ago. But I can't go getting into the problems of bands becoming 'too successful' right now...

Here's the Kings of Leon set list:
'Crawl'
'Taper Jean Girl'
'My Party'
'Be Somebody'
'Immortals'
'Molly's Chambers'
'Fans'
'Milk'
'Closer'
'Mary'
'Wasted'
'4 Kicks'
'The Bucket'
'Radioactive'
'Charmer'
'Where Is My Mind?'
'Sex On Fire'
'Notion'
'On Call'
'Southbound'
'Trani'


Encore:
'Knocked Up'
'Manhattan'
'Use Somebody'
'Black Thumbnail'

Florence + The Machine - Brixton Academy

I had been looking forward to this gig for months; ever since I received an email one day with a 'performer alert' for tickets going on sale the next morning, ever since I got up early and sat waiting for 9 o'clock to come so I could tick the 'buy' button, and ever since I managed to buy as many tickets as possible, not quite sure who was going to come with me.

A couple of months had gone by since then, and the night had finally come for a couple of friends and I to make the chilly journey to Brixton Academy, with my one spare ticket just in case I could find someone deserving to take it off my hands. Seeing the crowds of people, however, I realised the chances of finding a lone fan and making their dream of seeing Florence come true were quite slim, so I caved in and sold it to a smokey ticket tout for a tenner. Oh well.

So we wandered into the dramatic sloping room under the staircases of Brixton Academy, where, in between the grand castle and turreted effect either side of the stage one of the support acts 'Frankie and the Heartstrings' were playing animatedly. We had to sort out the essentials first though, and headed to the bar.

Unfortunately, by the time we'd got some beer, Frankie & co had finished their set, but we were just in time for the second act - who were a pleasant suprise for me - 'The Temper Trap'. I had been fairly obsessed with their single 'Sweet Disposition' all summer, so the surprise to see it live was a very welcome one. The Melbourne band played a set of about six songs, with their singles 'Fader' and 'Sweet Disposition' were definitely the highlights as a few of the other tracks seemed to get a little lost and the vocals were sometimes difficult to comprehend. I personally think it would have been worth leaving 'Sweet Disposition' until the end of the set, as it definitely energised the crowd and would have ended it on a high, rather than bringing the atmosphere back down with an unknown album track.

But, enough of the support, what I really went to see and want to talk about is Florence + the Machine; stage name for bright-haired young London girl Florence Welch. She emerged on to a stage that was littered with bird cages, had a background of birds and twigs that changed colour, in a shiny silver leotard (that was revealed later, much to the delight of the male audience members) with a full, fluffy skirt that looked to have been made out of lots of light pink feather boas. She looked sweet and ethereal, juxtaposing with the booming voice she let loose in the opening song 'My Boy Builds Coffins'. She continued on to perform most of the current album 'Lungs' as well as some lesser known tracks consisting of unreleased material and B-sides, which gave it all a bit of variety.

Florence was joined on stage by, as well as her normal band, a choir, string orchestra, and a harpist. They all gave a much richer sound and it was great to watch them play, and watch Flo skip around them. You could physically see where the money for your ticket had been spent; on these extra people, as well as a host of special effects. For 'Cosmic Love' the stage was transformed to reveal a moon and stars as a new backdrop, and when playing 'You've Got the Love' a mass of heart confetti erupted and poured over the audience (which, incidentally would have perhaps been better suited to the encore finale, as all that followed it seemed a bit surplus). It was spectacular. And this is all without mentioning much of the main woman herself. Florence is an innate performer, you can tell she loves every minute of it. She dresses for attention, she blasts your ears with her voice, she dramatically pauses and stares out into the crowd, she chats to us about how weird it is to see her name headlining at Brixton. On stage is where she is supposed to be, and she completely and deservedly owns it. Watching her is mesmorising, and as her songs take you on fantastical journeys you realise that you are watching someone who, at just 23, is really very, very good.

I left the venue, tripping over the odd plastic cup, on a real high. I thouroughly enjoyed every bit of the performance, Florence along would have put on a great show, but everything else mixed in made it even better.

Florence + the Machine - 5/5

Bloc Party at Kensington Olympia

Oops, been a bit slack on the old blogging front recently, but, in my defence, it was Easter! However, I did spend my Easter Sunday evening doing something a little more exciting than usual - as the title suggests, I went to see Bloc Party. Now, for those like my mother, and several other people over the age of 25 who replied to the statement 'I'm going to see Bloc Party' with 'Oh, what's that?' perhaps I should give an introduction. Bloc Party are a British four piece band consisting of Kele Okereke, Russell Lissack, Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong, who were formed at the Reading Festival in 1999, but only settled on the name Bloc Party in 2003. They have recently released their third album 'Intimacy', which the tour is in aid of. I was lucky enough to see them on their last night in England before going on tour overseas in Kensington Olympia; a venue I had only ever known as a daytime exhibition centre, but I have to say I really liked it.

Now, for the performance. I had been wanting to see Bloc Party perform live for some time now, their tracks like 'Helicopter' have been a frequent delight on night's out, and I bought their album 'A Weekend in the City' last year and absolutely treasure it. So it is safe to say they had a lot of expectations to live up to, and luckily they exceeded them.

Unlike a lot of bands with a new album to plug, Bloc Party did not just stick to the new stuff - while what I've heard of it has been great, it's just not the same when you can't sing along to the words yet. In fact, in addition to all the songs that had been released as singles, they managed to fit in a lot of album tracks from their earlier two albums, such as 'Blue Light' from their first album 'Silent Alarm' and 'Song for Clay' from 'Weekend in the City' (Amazing!)

The front man, Kele Okereke, showcased his distinctive vocal talent beautifully, the whole band worked together so well live that every song was not only as good as the recorded version, but better - which is as it always should be. Okereke chatted to the crowd, saying how nice it was for him to be home again in London, even though he wouldn't be back again for a while, and - to really get into the Easter spirit - he reappeared for the second half of the performance in a full white, fluffy rabbit suit. It was very becoming.

The band's finale was most definitely that, ending the excitable and sweaty evening with their hit 'Flux', which was released in November 2007. It was the song many members of the audience (including my friends and I) had been looking forward to, and it was introduced by Okereke, 'Now, I know we've hit you guys with a lot of energetic songs tonight, but I hope you've kept something in reserve for this last song...It's kind of a big deal.' And he was right. The atmosphere was electric, and there was not one head in the sea of people around me that was not madly bouncing around with a huge smile plastered across it.

Everyone left that evening sweaty and happy, despite the nightmare of Easter public transport they had to face getting home.

Bloc Party - 5/5