Category: Gigs & Reviews

Live: Penguin Prison at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Second time I’ve seen Penguin Prison play in London- he’s so much fun! Loads of girls dancing at the front, I sense he’s becoming a bit of a heart throb for Shoreditch hipsters. I see big things for this popster!

Live: Robyn at O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to see Robyn and she rocks it every single fucking time. I do remember seeing her at a tiny venue in Camden more than 3 years ago, before ‘With Every Heartbeat’ was even released and feeling happy for her that she managed to sell out the entire Shepherds Bush Empire tonight. The pics look crap because she moves so much it was impossible to get a decent shot with my camera! Support DJ set by Rebecca & Fiona was also really excellent.  More pics on my Flickr.

I think I’ll post up some current favourite electropop Swedish tunes later on in the week.

Live: N*E*R*D and The Hoosiers at the Album Chart Show

Just came back from this TV recording of the Album Chart Show for Channel 4, being filmed at Koko in London. Playing tonight were N*E*R*D, The Hoosiers, The Klaxons and The Script- but we only stayed for the first two (I’m not a huge fan of Klaxons or Script, and we had to wait something like 15 minutes between the sets so we just got old and went home instead). Check out the pics from the night on my Flickr right now. We were right at the front -thanks N*E*R*D for winning us some tickets! The Hoosiers were pretty good, but Pharrell and N*E*R*D were OUT OF THIS WORLD! You have to go see these dudes out when they hit a town near you.

Live: Liam Bailey and Rosanna at Gold Dust

These two artists are tipped to be very very big in the next year- and both were featured on this blog a while ago. Rosanna‘s set was great- she blends melodies with electric synths in a way on Swedes know how to do. Liam Bailey was also excellent- although some of the things he came out with between his songs were a bit OTT, verging on the off-putting. But his talent is pretty amazing and definitely worth checking out!

Live: Jamie Cullum at Kenwood House

Kenwood House is an estate owned by English Heritage, and every summer it hosts a series of concerts on it’s grounds- and charges insane amounts of cash for tickets. Which is fine, if the weather’s good. But it was raining. Heavily. And so, while sitting on deckchairs in the open air smelling soggy clothes from the people around us wasn’t very nice, Jamie Cullum was really good. I’ve wanted to see him live for so long and despite the shit weather, I reckon it was probably one of the best gigs I’ve seen in a really long time. There’s something about jazz that just sounds brilliant live.

Live: Active Child at The Lexington

There’s something so brilliant about Active Child– his music catches you from the beginning and draws you through a weird and wonderful world of complex beats and choir sounds. And the harp he carried around with him is simply cool. Active Child was playing with a couple of other bands tonight (Phantogram and MOPP) although I chose to only see him perform.

Live: Europe & Foreigner at iTunes Festival, Roundhouse

I think, like a lot of people, I went a bit crazy with this year’s iTunes Festival and applied to win tickets for all the gigs. Of all those gigs, this was probably the one that I was least interested it- so karma worked it’s way to make sure this was the only one I won this year! These two power rock bands (both huge in the 80’s) haven’t lost their rock- I actually really enjoyed it. Go see Europe on their tour next year in the UK: start growing your hair long and ripping your black t-shirts in the mean time.

LoveBox

Is anyone going to Lovebox today in Victoria Park (London)? Grace Jones, Hot Chip, Peaches, Hurts, and Hercules & The Love Affair will be playing. I wasn’t going but I ended up getting a ticket anyway. Every outdoor festival I’ve been to in my life has ended with some kind of hot mess (the last one I went to gave me a week’s worth of sun stroke agony). Here goes!

Update: LoveBox is amazing.

Live: MTV Presents Alex Gardner + Eliza Doolittle at Dingwalls

Two future pop superstars-in-the-making played the tiny Dingwalls last night. This is the same venue where I saw Mika and Robyn just before they both went on to take over the world, so maybe it has something in the air for these aspiring singers. Eliza Doolittle was really good, and her harmless tracks were pretty fun to listen to. She also did a cover of a Justin Bieber track which I enjoyed far more than I should have…

Alex Gardner, who headlined the night, was also pretty amazing. This kid is only a teenager, and I mentioned him on here months ago. His sound is pretty unique, and you forget sometimes just how young he is from the way he performs.

Live: Jamiroquai at Club Debut, London

Words cannot describe how amazing this gig was. I don’t think anything will top what I witnessed last night at Club Debut. This was a warm-up gig for Jamiroquai’s appearance at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on Saturday. The bass on ‘Little L’ is just out of this world! Rock Dust Light Star is a new track from their upcoming album- hear a snippet of new single ‘White Knuckle Ride here.

Jamiroquai London tickets go on sale this afternoon: get ready!

Tickets for an intimiate gig in London with Jamiroquai on the 24th of this month (next Thursday) go on sale TODAY (15th) at noon on his website. It’s in a tiny venue in London Bridge and something like 1000 people ‘liked’ his Facebook status when he announced the gig last week so good luck getting tickets! If you don’t manage to get tickets then you can still catch him next Sunday at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park with Stevie Wonder. UPDATE: I’ve uploaded some really good videos from this gig here!

ALFITUDE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT MAKES YOU AN INDIVIDUAL! Head over to our e-survey and let us know!

Live: Lady Gaga at O2 Arena

I went to see Lady Gaga yesterday in London. I was tired of listening to her songs being overplayed on the radio, so while I was excited, I was still a bit unsure whether I would enjoy the Monster Ball Tour. Alas, she blew my mind away with the craziest, most fucked up show I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Amazing!

Live: Jamie Lidell at 229 The Venue

I love Jamie Lidell. He’s just amazing in my eyes. Some people ooze musical talent without even trying, and he’s one of them. I was really looking forward to seeing him tonight, and he didn’t let me down in the slightest. His drummer was out of this world, and he had loads of funny machines that made sounds I’d never heard before in my life. I left the 229 a happier man, with a spring in my step and a tune in my head. Above is the live version of my favourite track on his new album, Compass, called ‘Your Sweet Boom’. It doesn’t sound anything like the recorded version- but then that’s not Jamie’s style!

Live: Active Child at Relentless Garage Upstairs

I went to see Active Child at the Relentless Garage Upstairs a couple of nights ago but only just managed to upload this clip just now (my videos take ages to load on Youtube- but I guess the sound quality is pretty good no?).

The music was kinda stunning, and he played around with a mini harp which is always good ‘When Your Love is Safe’ is so far my favourite track of his, but he also played another track that was really upbeat but I couldn’t figure out what it was called. Anyway, if you get a chance to see him, go do it! Cold Cave were supporting and left my ears ringing for ages after; but ‘Theme from Tomorrowland’ blew me away.

Live: Hurts at the NME Radar Tour at Koko

I was really excited about seeing Hurts perform for the first time in a big venue- they’ve been the talk of blogs since last year and they were super good. The whole set was just really swish (does anyone use that word anymore?). Everything Everything were also sharing the top bill but I wasn’t so keen on them, although Photoshop Handsome was loads of fun. I feel like they try to do too much at the same time. Darwin Deez was supporting, and much as I think he’s really cool, some of the songs sounded a hot mess. The dancing was between tracks with his band was so awesome though! When I arrived I discovered that Active Child was also playing on the night but I didn’t get there in time to catch it, so I’m off to see him tonight at the Garage.

Live: Penguin Prison at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

I managed to catch Penguin Prison in London last night in Shoreditch (this gig was meant to happen last week but because of that volcano cloud thing it had to be put back). He was amazing. Really really amazing. I don’t know how else to put it. I thought he would be headlining the night but turns out he was supporting a band I’d never heard of, which is a bit ironic. Or maybe I’m out of touch. I also saw another lady called Jennie Abrahamson who was also really good. I’ll put up a post on her in a little while- she’s a sort of Kate Bush/ Lykke Li hybrid with a smile.

Live: Alan Pownall at Borderline

I only heard of Alan Pownall last week, so I thought it would be cool to check him out at the Borderline in London last night. It felt like there was a big buzz around the venue, and it was pretty much a packed house (too packed- and I I’m not a big fan of the Borderline), but he was really really good! Chasing Time will be huge. Above is a clip from the night. Go see him if you can!