Friday, August 31, 2012

Low Anthem, Bush Hall - 29 August

Righty, it's back to gigs until we go to the Paralympics this weekend and next. Just for the record, I think NBC in the US not showing much coverage is a disgrace but then again I am now spoiled by TV with little or no advertising so don't ask me. Only that the Times had a photo of an American paralympian on its front page this morning. Shame the Americans can't get to see the action live.

Ok, the gig the other night at Bush Hall. We went to the concert instead of staying in and watching the opening ceremony, but still caught the end, which seemed to be a decent bit. Unfortunately, I think I have opening and closing ceremony burnout. Found it a little odd with Ian McKellan waving his arms around. Though I did get a little teary when the guy came flying down with the torch.

The Low Anthem was the top act, Maia the Band, the opening act. We caught one song the opener played, which seemed reasonably foot tapping. I like Bush Hall. It is a lovely venue and they don't really screw you over the price of a beer. £3.80 is a fairly reasonable price for a beer at a concert.

Unfortunately, I just wasn't crazy about the band. The lead singer (Mat Davidson?) came on wearing a wifebeater and sang like Bob Dylan (see above). Not bad. But the songs didn't grab me. I also find it strange when he had to basically explain the premise of the song before they sang it. I thought, isn't that what the song is for?

The female singer Jocie Adams had a decent voice and seemed to spend most of the time staring intently at Mat (except in the photo, of course). I also thought that she'd be a better lead singer than him. Mr said I was just being a crab.

The one time I did toe tap a bit was when they covered a song by Joni Mitchell. Shortly after that, I went and stood at the back of the hall because it was hot. Then Mr joined me and we went upstairs to the terrace for another beer.  Had a peek out at the concert again, they were doing some kind of whirling thing with this butterfly contraption they had over the stage. Strobe light effect. It seemed to add nothing.

We left before the end, which is tres unusual for us.

Marks out of 10: a Low 4. Like watching your friend's band, but they're not that great. Lucky for us we didn't have to hang around afterwards and say, yeah, that bit with the butterflies was cool.