Huey and the New Yorkers, Bush Hall - 7 November

This is the gig where we finally met Huey. One of my favourite people in the world from NY has been trying to get us to meet Huey since he moved over here. Think he lives in Leicester or something. The last time Fun Lovin' Criminals played in London, we went to see them at Koko. The attempts to get in touch were foiled by a hurricane or something. I swear, I don't miss that season in NY. And now there's another one. It's terrible.

At any rate, we went along to his album launch at Rough Trade Records East a couple of weeks ago and met him ourselves. Even brought Jr, which meant that I didn't actually get to see the numbers he played off his new album. I did meet him afterwards, as he and Jr posed for photos. Jr's a ham. We left because I was starving and a corned beef bagel was calling to me. It's a hazard around that area.

So, we get to Bush Hall, and it's pretty full. Huey and the NYers are just coming on. It's a decent sized band -  guitarists: Chris, King, Na'im; the keyboardist and the drummer. The drummer's Frank from FLC. The keyboardist is Pete, who I will keep confusing Frank with later.They look nothing alike. I had been drinking.

The band were definitely out for a good time, and wound up taking the audience with them. All the songs, even if you don't know the lyrics, have you singing along by the end of them, and they are very danceable. He started out with Stick it to the Man and got sentimental with Christmas by the Side of the Road. He also sang a few standards. Chris had some good guitar solos, and Peter was a whizz on the keyboards. The band came out for two encores and I think we would've been there all night, but as one of the guys said, that's all the songs we know. But that is most definitely untrue. They must know more songs. I know they do.

At any rate, we stayed for one more beer after the show, and that was probably an error on my part. Mr wandered off and came back with after show party tickets, and instead of saying, oh no, we have to get the train and we have a babysitter... I said, great! let's go. So we went upstairs.

Now, I am not much of a drinker anymore and I had a few. Then one more over my personal limit. So, poor Huey and the boys were subjected to drunken Mrs. I was surrounded by people from NY - more specifically, Manhattan. These people are like baby pigeons.They must exist, but you never actually see any. Everyone moves to NYC or lives in the outer boroughs, in my experience. It was nice to hear their accents. I had a weird sense of being back in New York, just for one evening. Talking about the election and Hurricane Sandy.

At any rate, I must now publicly apologise for thinking Huey's full name is Hubert instead of the actual and more probable Hugh. And generally making a nuisance of myself at the party. But they seemed very cheerful and gracious as a bunch. It was too much fun and I paid for it the next day. As my co-worker said, "On a school night!" Yep. Ow.

Marks out of 10: this was definitely a 9.5. Huey and the gang have continued FLC's tradition of making sure they tear the roof off any venue they play in. A great night out. On a Wednesday!

Rebekah Delgado, Bush Hall - 17 October

"We all need someone, yes we do..." Rebekah Delgado needs a lot of people with her, on stage. Yes she does. At least the two times I've seen her, once supporting Alice Gold and last week for her hugely entertaining launch show. At Bush Hall. One of my personal favs. And it all fit so well. You'd think the loads of people with her would fall off the stage, but they all seem really comfortable up there. Plus, the audience joins in. See?

Just Rebekah, and a few of her friends and fellow musicians.

We came in, they crossed us off the guest list, and caught the last few numbers of supporting act Tom Hickox. He has a voice like the lead singer from the Crash Test Dummies. Once again I show my age with that reference. But they still have a website so they're still out there. Very good tunes, Mr. Hickox.

After a suitable lull, Rebekah came on with her gang. I like this trend where where they break the set in half and then we don't all have to clap like idiots to get them to come out for an encore. Plus, we could see from the programme that it was going to happen. The hall was by no means packed, and the emcee had to encourage all us shy audience members to come forward for better viewing of the musicians. So we did. Mr says it was as if all her friends and family showed up, plus us 10 fans.

That being said, who missed the crowd? Not us. We were having a good time. We sang along, we clapped, and then the interval occurred and these puppet people and an accordionist came around with cupcakes! 

Cupcakes handed out, the puppet dances

Cupcakes at a gig! They were from Upsy Daisy Bakery, which according to their website has won cupcake of the year or something. The cakes were quite tasty, IMHO, but Mr likes his cupcakes ith less icing, so we agree to disagree. I did notice that he finished his cupcake, however. It had lemon curd inside it. Mmmm.

But what a deal. A concert and a cupcake. They should do that more often. And then, we had an acrobat. Why not? 

After that, the second half. Another singalong. Her songs are very catchy. And then we went home. It was fab. A true night of entertainment.

Marks out of 10: 9, definitely. If you don't know her music, go along and watch the lady on stage play the muscial saw. Or the puppets dance. Next time there will have to be a dancing bear. RD knows what we want - cupcakes and circuses. And delivers it. 

Ellie Goulding, Jazz Cafe - 5 October

I'm sorry Ellie Goulding, it wasn't your fault. You sang your little heart out and turned out very good renditions of your tunes. Your band delivered. I can only blame what must have been the worst gig for me personally for the year, on the venue and the audience members. Your set was one hour and 10 minutes long, and yet it seemed like years.
Mr and I were fairly enthused about seeing you again - we went to see you at Heaven a couple of years ago, and it was great. You put on a good show. But this time at Jazz Cafe, we spent most of that hour and 10 making way for people to go back and forth, and up the stairs to the "VIP" area. It was pretty squashed, and people just could not seem to stay put. You mentioned that it was like having a gig in your living room. Nope, it was like watching a gig on a rush hour tube platform.
At one point I wanted to yell, can't you people sit here and watch her for a measly 3 minutes, while she sings a song? I wanted to see one song without having to squish myself against the wall. No luck. Even the guy with the quiff (think it might have been the new Radio 1 morning guy, or maybe that one off BBC3 who's the comedian) kept going back and forth. Yikes.
So you tried, but we were also distracted by the people who thought it a good idea to talk through your entire set. Mr tried to shush them, and then one guy got so frustrated he told them to go f*ck off. It was bad language, Ellie. The rest of us agreed with the guy. After about 45 minutes of this, Mr and I admitted defeat and watched the rest of your show sideways through the bar area. I thanked the chattering morons and told them they were a great audience as we went out.
In the future, we will be avoiding your gigs unless there's seating, or we get there when the doors open. Mr suggested the Empire might be a good one for you. You can fill it now. And enjoy New York. Hope there's more room there.

Marks out of 10: 4. Not your fault, Ellie. You were definitely a 9, singing.