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Florence + The Machine. Manchester Apollo. 10th December 2009.

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I just want to say that I don’t think my review of the gig below actually shows you how amazing this gig was. Unless you were there, I don’t know if you’ll be able to understand just how special this night was. To see a singer you love/adore be overwhelmed by the love of her fans is just beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s the last gig of the year that I’m going to…and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather see šŸ™‚

Before I tell you how amazing Florence + The Machine were, I must say that the support acts were once again, brilliant. Frankie And The Heartstrings and The Temper Trap were rather bloody good. However, I still stand by The xx being the best support act Florence has had (and will haveā€¦but that could be because I am in love with The xx)

The Apollo in Manchester is a venue that in the past I have disliked. I donā€™t know why, but I really didnā€™t like it. Obviously my opinion changed after seeing Florence + The Machine there.

In May I saw Florence play a venue that held around 200 people. In September Iā€™d say aroundĀ  2500 and now in December there was just over 3000. It is common knowledge that Iā€™ve been a huge Florence fan since seeing a video of her with Dev (Lightspeed Champion) back in 2007. So seeing her go from playing to a few hundred to a few thousand makes me feel like some kind of proud parent.

The crowd is made up of friends, lovers and parents. In front of us there was a young boy with his mum. They were singing and dancing to every song, it was truly beautiful.

The set opened with My Boy Builds Coffins, and after a few tracks in Florence said they would be playing some B-Sides. The nerdy fan in me went into some kind of seizure (internally) and hoped for Hardest Of The Hearts and Falling to be played.

Both were played, thus sending me into some kind of trance. Iā€™m lucky that my best friend (who goes to Flo gigs with me) understands my love for the band. To Florenceā€™s surprise everyone sang along to Falling which made her cry on stage. Whatā€™s so beautiful about Florence is that she still doesnā€™t see how well loved she is and how much us fans adore her. I still stand by Florence having the most wonderful fans ever, if I do say so myself!

Iā€™m Not Calling You A Liar was played acoustically and those who have seen this live will know exactly what part of the song causes the crowd for a better word, to go rather apeshit. She hits a certain note that just leaves you stood there with your mouth open. In awe of what you are in the presence of.

For me, as always, Cosmic Love and Blinding were a personal favourite. I will confess now that I bawled when they played Youā€™ve Got The Love. Iā€™m still trying to work out why, but I think it was seeing 3000 people sing this as loudly as they could with their arms around each other.

The keyboard solo in Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) always covers me in goose bumps and makes me want to learn the piano.

During Dog Days Are Over, Florence decided to go for a bit of a climb. It did result in her hitting her head on one of the speakers. Iā€™m pretty sure the crowd were expecting her to stage dive!

I know that Iā€™ve said this after every time Iā€™ve seen them but this was the best gig of hers Iā€™ve been to (so far!) The venue was perfect and the crowd were amazing.

Iā€™ve been to quite a few gigs and Iā€™ve never seen a crowd react like this to a band before, Florence fans- you are the best!

The xx

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If you buy NME this week you’ll see a nice wee feature on The xx. I won’t lie, I’m still sad that Baria left šŸ˜¦ but I’m glad the band are still going. They (aside from Flo of course) are my favourite band of the year and the album is just astounding. An excellent debut indeed.

I’ve got flu. I thought it was just your standard cold..but it’s flu. I’ve got the Lungs limited edition delux set and season 5 of The Wire (it was Ā£20 and I’d been waiting ages for it to be reduced from Ā£40!) to help me feel better…I’ve just watched this performance of The xx on Alexa Chung’s show on YouTube…anyone who fails to see just how good The xx are need a bit of a slap/kick/poke/push šŸ™‚

The xx- Basic Space (Live On The Alexa Chung Show).

I think I’m going to go have a nap!

x

World Aids Day/Travis McCoy.

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As you know, today is World Aids Day.

I don’t need to make a massive blog post about the importance of today, so I’ll leave it to one man who, I think, seems to be one of the nicest and sincerest people in music. It’s Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes and this is the track he did for World Aids Day.

Travis McCoy-One Day At A Time.

His documentary is being shown on MTV.

The Strokes and Marina & The Diamonds.

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Pretty sure I was close to having some kind of seizure this morning when I heard that The Strokes are to headline Isle Of Wight Festival next year. Does this means there could be some tour dates with it? GO ON BOYS…DO IT!!!

And…as if that wasn’t rnough…Marina And The Diamonds has a new video up for Hollywood. Is it amazing? OF COURSE! Does she look stupidly beautiful? HELL YES. I could be slightly in love.

Marina And The Diamonds- Hollywood (Video).

Can I justify spending Ā£80 on those Lady GaGa headphones? My heart and head are telling me to buy them. No part of me is saying no. I doubt I’ll even fight it. Next pay day..I’m getting them..or I’ll just sta in my overdraft even more and get them! But what colour?! Red or white? The black ones look cheap…at Ā£80..I want them to look fucking good! And they do! Oh..decisions…decisions!

La Roux. Birmingham O2 Academy. 18th November 2009.

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You know youā€™re going to have a good night when you are wandering a cold city holding a map to find the venue. The venue used to be easy to find, that was until they decided to move it. I, and others fail to see why they moved the Academy in Birmingham. It was fine just where it was, but thatā€™s a different story.

 

The last time I saw La Roux was at The Sugarmill in Stoke. Quite a small venue compared to the O2 Academy.

Sat on the floor outside the Academy with our hats to keep us warm and Bacardi and Sprite for entertainment, it didnā€™t matter how cold we got. That was until we heard La Roux sound check. Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot listen to Cover My Eyes. It is one of the saddest songs I have ever heard and is the only track off the album I canā€™t listen to. My best friend, who was with me, feels exactly the same. So imagine how we felt when we were heard it being played in the sound check. Insert a few expletives and us banging on the door we had our backs to, telling La Roux to stop.

 

Support came from Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, who are ridiculously handsome and energetic. With a half hour set, they easily won the crowd over- especially with set closer, Dance The Way I Feel. Which I think my best friend had some kind of seizure during. She also blew kisses with one of the singers. Ou Est Le Swimming Pool are one of my favourite support acts Iā€™ve seen, but it wonā€™t be long before they are the headline act.

 

Finally it was time for La Roux to come on. The lights dimmed and the intro to Tigerlily blasted out with the words La Roux flashing from the stage.

The band and Elly came onto the stage greeted by what can only be described as a loving noise. Iā€™m not entirely sure; I think the Bacardi was kicking in at this point.

The one thing that pisses me off about the press is how they portray Elly to be some kind of bitch who is always angry. Go to one of her gigs and youā€™ll see that she adores her fans a hell of a lot, and the way she interacts with them is by no means bitchy.

Most of the album is played including Saviour, a bonus track.

Halfway through she removes her jacket, saying she was too hot. She was greeted by various loving remarks and whistles. She replied with ā€œOh fuck off!ā€ Claps all round.

The end of Quicksand was changed to ā€œIā€™m in Birminghamā€ which was pretty cool. Iā€™ll get this bit over with because it was quite painful. They played Cover My Eyes. My best friend and I looked at each other, and we hugged throughout the whole song. I only cried a little bit. I think I was just in awe of how amazing Ellyā€™s voice was, so I ignored how heartbreaking the song is.

At one point she gave me a smile, I think part of me died a little. She took notice of us at the front row and called us the ā€œfrantic waversā€ and as she waved, my best friend leaned over the barrier. I thought she had dropped her bag; this was greeted by an ā€œOh hello!ā€ from Elly. Turns out my best friend flashed her boobies at her. This story has been told to everyone and is up there with meeting Florence.

See, waiting for hours to get to the front always pays off.

The set ended with Bulletproof which of course everybody went mental over. If youā€™ve not seen La Roux live yet, do yourself a favour and go do it. And whilst youā€™re at it, go see when Ou Est Le Swimming Pool are playing near you and go see them too!

Photo taken by Amy Brown (the best person you'll ever meet!)

 

 

Photo taken by Amy Brown.

 

 

Cosmic Love.

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If you’re quite emotional at the moment…then maybe don’t watch this. But if you choose not, please know that you are missing something rather well…PERFECT. It’s an acoustic, live version of Cosmic Love.

This song means so much to me and hearing it like this fills my belly up with butterflies and things. I’m seeing La Roux tomorrow with my favourite person in the world so I’m very exicted and happy!

Florence + The Machine- Cosmic Love(Acoustic).

x

 

Wandering And Listening.

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Whilst walking home in the dark this evening I was listening to You’ve Gt The Love (Electric Proms version) and it just…there was something about walking in the dark, through the soggy leaves on the ground surrounded by trees and hardly any lights that made this song sound so much more beautiful than it already is. There are so many songs that sound better when you are listening to them whilst wandering about in the dark whilst it’s pissing it down.

I remeber about a year ago I went off wandering again (I should be kept on a lead!) listening to So Here We Are by Bloc Party in the snow. It just made it sound so different t sitting in my room listening to it. Another example is Camera Obscura. I’m sat here listening to them now but I know if I was to go for a wander or go on a train listening to them, it would sound different. Not better, just different. I don’t know why this happens, but I find it to be such a wonderful thing. Or maybe, I’m just odd and the only person who feels like this. No idea.

But try it. Listen to something by Camera Obscura, Flo or Bloc Party in your room…then go for a wander (maybe not when it’s raining and dark, I don’t want you to slip and hurt yourself!) and just see, well hear, how different it sounds.