The Staves rock Hackney Empire (gently)

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Ah, The Staves. Dreamy and uplifting and heavenly and yada yada yada. We all know the music's beautiful. What no-one ever mentions is that they're fucking funny.

On stage, the Watford sisters bicker wonderfully between songs. Emily and Camilla tease their sister Jessica for wearing a gown that looks like "Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat... if you were watching him on a black and white TV". Jessica responds by breaking into Coat of Many Colours, after which Camilla drily announces: "Ladies and gentlemen, my sister. The bell-end."

"Joke's on you, cos you're stuck in a band with me," her sister replies. "I'm an inescapable bell-end."

At which, Camilla leans into the mic and whispers: "Inescapable bell-end: The new fragrance from Jessica Stavely-Taylor."

But don't worry, there's no Kinks-style brouhaha here. This is all good-natured banter, and one of the main reasons to catch The Staves live.

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The other is the music. Did I mention it was dreamy and uplifting and heavenly? Well, those caressive harmonies are as sublime as ever. And the material from the band's new album, If I Was, gives the band an excuse strut their inner rock chick, too.

Spit-flecked single Black and White is strident and sonorous; while the Beatles-y Teeth White carouses around a choppy guitar groove. Jessica even gives it some windmill as she leans back into those power chords.

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon (who produced the new album) makes a surprise appearance to harmonise on the hymnal Make It Holy, wearing a fetching denim shirt. "Literally words can't express what that guy means to us," says Emily as he takes his bow.

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The set is peppered with older material too ("all the megahits," Camilla calls them). Mexico, Winter Trees and Wisely and Slow are met with roars of approval. But it's the new stuff that shows how far The Staves have come. Multi-layered and structurally complex it's a genuine evolution from a band with talent to spare.

"So we made a new album," Camilla deadpans. "Pre-order the shit out of that. It's important, apparently."



SETLIST
Blood I Bled
Steady
Open
Mexico
Horizon
Black and White
No Me, No You, No More
Let Me Down
Pay Us No Mind
Eagle Song
Damn It All
Make It Holy
Teeth White
Winter Trees

-- Encore --
Facing West
Wisely and slow

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Review: Arcade Fire at Earl's Court

"We'd like to play this song for Earls Court," says Win Butler, as he plays the opening chords of The Suburbs. "Before they tear it down and turn it into condos. Get your bids in now. Hope they're cheap."

Butler might be sentimental about the venue - but, for me, they can't demolish it enough. Earl's Court is undoubtedly the worst concert venue in London. An ugly, reverberant warehouse with all the soul and personality of a damp towel.

Arcade Fire are helped by the fact their songs gain a scale and majesty from the sonorous echo (after all, they recorded their second album in a cathedral). The early material - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Ready To Start, Rebellion (Lies) - sounds particularly grand; but the finessed basslines of last year's Reflektor album get lost in the rafters.

The sprawling 12-piece band aren't going to let the night be spoiled by dodgy acoustics, though.

There's always been a chaotic energy to an Arcade Fire show - William Butler, in particular, plays with the demented fervour of a tiny puppy who's just heard the word "walkies" - and on this arena tour, they've extended the dramatics to the audience. Fans were asked to turn up in fancy dress, and we saw sequins, skeletons, facepaints, ball gowns, bow ties and one brave man in full-on fishnet-stockinged drag.

In return, the audience got their own lighting rig, as well as glitter cannons, steel drums, fake palm trees, and a full dance troupe on a hydraulic platform. Regine also appeared on the b-stage later in the show, performing the back-and-forth vocals of It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus) facing her husband across the arena.

What else? Ian McCullough made a guest appearance, playing Echo And The Bunnymen's The Cutter; a man in a full mirror suit became a human disco ball; while a mariachi band in bobblehead masks played a wobbly version of Bittersweet Symphony.

The three-track encore was undoubtedly the highlight - starting with the moshpit-inciting Normal People, followed by the supple groove of Here Comes The Night Time and finishing with a truly anthemic, air-punching Wake Up (strangely uplifting for a song that bgins "something filled up my heart with nothing").

"We only put out a record every four years or so it feels really special to be here," said Win as the show ended. "You guys have been amazing."

The feeling was mutual. And if Arcade Fire can turn the cold, cavernous Earl's Court into a full-on Haitian carnival, Glastonbury is going to be a doddle.

SETLIST
Reflektor
Flashbulb Eyes
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)
Joan Of Arc
Rococo
The Suburbs
Ready To Start
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
The Cutter - with Ian McCullough
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
No Cars Go
Haiti
We Exist
Afterlife
It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)
Sprawl II

Encore
Bittersweet Symphony - fake band cover
Normal Person
Here Comes The Night Time
Wake Up
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/arcade-fire/77766/?recache=2&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=arcadefire#AIsQRwwRGhW1Yh48.99

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Review: Prince at the Roundhouse (set II)

Four months into his Hit and Run tour, Prince is on a roll. And when Prince is on a roll, he's untouchable. That's why, with 36 hours notice, he can summon 7,000 people to two consecutive shows at London's Roundhouse. 

I made it into the second of those - a rib-shaking, house-quaking, curfew-breaking spectacular that ended long after the last tube. Not that anyone seemed to mind. 

Prince took the stage at 10:30, just an hour after he'd wrapped up the first show, but he was fresh as a Paisley daisy, ripping into a grinding Let's Go Crazy before reeling off Raspberry Beret, U Got The Look, Kiss, When Doves Cry and Sign O The Times. No breaks, no pauses, no sweat, no problems. 

It's easy to forget Prince has been playing this material for 30 years now. The music is so effortless it seems like it's just occurred to him in the moment. His face contorts with every note of every guitar solo. He exudes passion and joy. And 3rdEyeGirl - his dazzlingly versatile band - can turn on a dime, bending the music to his whim with nothing more than a nod of a head. 

"How many hits have we just played?" Prince grinned at the 45-minute mark. At a rough estimate, I'd have said two thousand zero zero - but the party still wasn't over (sorry, couldn't resist).

So on it went: Controversy gained a funky, polytonal guitar lick; Little Red Corvette was slowed down and drawn out; and Purple Rain blossomed into a 10-minute singalong with three false endings. It was so good, the couple next to me disobeyed the "no cameras" rule and got their phones out. They were forcibly removed by a bouncer.

They must be kicking themselves today, because they missed almost an entire hour of music. Having dispensed with the hits up-front, Prince plucked hidden gems, album cuts and semi-improvised blues jams out of his lustrous afro, trading riffs happily with Donna Grantis (guitar) and Ida Nelson (bass). 

The highlight was a 15-minute run-through of Something In The Water (Does Not Compute), from the album 1999. "Take it to church," Prince directed keyboard player Cassandra O'Neal, who laid down some chunky gospel chords while he led the audience in an extended dance of call-and-response vocals. 

Almost as good was the set-closer - an early-90s cast-off called What's My Name, which Prince originally released on a telephone hotline (yes, really). Rarely played live, it turned the Roundhouse into a heaving midnight moshpit. 

"We've all got families," Prince said as the show closed, "but tonight I'm putting 3rdEyeGirl up for adoption". 

"If you promise to look after them from now on, you'll get me half-price."

It's a deal. Where do I sign?

SETLIST

Let's Go Crazy File

Take Me With U 

Raspberry Beret 

U Got The Look 

Cool (The Time cover)

Kiss

[Sampler Set]

When Doves Cry

Sign O' The Times

Hot Thing 

Controversy 

1999 

Little Red Corvette  

Nothing Compares 2U

[Solo piano set]        

Diamonds And Pearls

The Beautiful Ones

Under The Cherry Moon (instrumental)    

Do Me, Baby    

I Wanna Be Your Lover    

Electric Intercourse

Purple Rain

Encore 1

The Ride / Butterface

Guitar

Plectrumelectrum

Fixurlifeup

Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)

Encore 2

Funknroll

Encore 3

Stratus (Billy Cobham cover)

What's My Name

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Review: Little Mix in Manchester

Thirlwall, Pinnock, Nelson and Edwards, it says on a big banner at Manchester's Phones 4U Arena. It looks like an advert for an upmarket chartered accountants but no! It's the UK's premiere girl band, Little Mix. 

And here they are, dropping from the ceiling in parkas. "A-ten-shun," they sing unnecessarily, as 14,000 glowsticks are waved frantically in their direction. 

Yes, this is the Salute Tour and it is quite a spectacle. The three-tiered set, festooned with gigantic fans and pyrotechnic devices, is like a post-apocalypse West Side Story. The choreography has a Rice Krispie crackle and pop. And the singing is way above the girl band standard. Early on, Perrie hits a note that has the parents turning to each other and remarking, "ooh, she's good."

So it's a shame the sound designer has let them down so badly. For Little Mix are warbling and wailing over a pre-recorded backing track, and it can't match their powerhouse performances. There are moments where the band ad-lib or (gasp) mime to backing vocals and the song's energy drains away completely. Whoever is responsible should be fired. 

It's not a complete disaster, though. When the girls break out live, four-part harmonies on Boy, it's a treat - even though poor old Jesy's clearly suffering from a chest infection. 

And the extended, Rhythm Nation-style dance breakdown on DNA is worthy of its inspiration. It's also nice to see such a dance-heavy concert completely devoid of sexually suggestive choreography. The band apparently take their "girls together" message seriously. 

Interestingly, their X Factor winner's single, Canonball, has been airbrushed out of history. At the encore, Wings is introduced as "the first single we ever released" - but there's a sweet moment when the entire arena sings it back to the band, a capella. 

"We know for a fact we're in for a good night when we're in Manchester," says Jade. 

Well, quite. 

SETLIST 

Salute

Nothing Feels Like You

About The Boy

Change Your Life 

Dark Horse (Katy Perry cover)

A Different Beat

How Ya Doin'

Mr Loverboy

Boy

Towers

Competition

Word Up

DNA

Stand Down

Dance Medley: Talk Dirty / N***as In Paris / Run The World (Girls) / Can't Hold Us

Little Me 

Move

ENCORE:

Good Enough

Wings

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Review: Tove Lo at Notting Hill Arts Club

The signs were good from the start. Two drum kits on an empty stage means, at some point, two people will be drumming on that stage. And that can only result in one thing: A bloody great racket.

And that's perfect because Tove Lo doesn’t do understatement. Her songs are BIG SONGS, full of passion and despair. The band knows it, too, and deliver her pop hooks with the full-blooded conviction of a rock group.

"It's sweaty up here," Tove announces two songs into the set. "I hope it's sweaty down there too." It is. Fists are pumped and rugs are cut. During Out Of Mind, pop star Marina and the Diamonds turned round and screamed at us “Fucking smash!”

Tove delivers her Truth Serum EP in order, which makes sense, as the six songs tell the story of a relationship, from besotted beginnings to devastating, drug-fuelled break-up. "I’ve got to stay high all the time to keep you off my mind," she sings – leading the audience in the world’s least appropriate arms-aloft singalong.

Tove Lo - Habits

Her vocals are flawless but not in an airbrushed way. Tove sings from her gut, and the audience clearly responds to her candour.

The set closes with Run On Love, her collaboration with Lucas Nord. It’s a euphoric, uplifting palate cleanser following the emotional turmoil of the Truth Serum material. “This was my first ever UK show,” beams the singer as she walks off stage. “It was amazing!”

As you can probably tell, I was blown away. It’s so refreshing to be at a pop show that engages the heart as well as the senses. If you get the chance to see Tove before she becomes an arena-bound pop megastar, grab it with both hands.

Lucas Nord ft Tove Lo - Run On Love

SETLIST
Love Ballad
Not On Drugs
Paradise
Over
Habits
Out of Mind
Run On Love

Top picture courtesy of Julian Rupert. The other shot was taken on my crappy phone.

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Review: Banks at Koko, London

Just before Banks takes the stage at Koko, the PA is blaring out a mixtape of 90s R&B ballads. It's wall-to-wall bumping and grinding and getting freaky "on you".

It's also a great illustration of how far we've come. Banks has taken that R&B template and bludgeoned it with the sub-bass paranoia of Massive Attack. "Before I ever met you, I never knew I could be broken in so many ways," she quivers in her opening number. It's bruised and tortured and magnificent.

What separates Banks from the rest of the sad sack R&B pack (Drake, Frank Ocean and her erstwhile touring buddy The Weeknd) is her sheer physical presence. Constantly back-lit, she prowls the stage like a grown up Wednesday Addams, draped in black and dancing as though she's trying to raise the spirits.


The spooky/sexy vibe is only enhanced by her sultry, spine-tingling vocals, which really shine during a mid-set acoustic section - featuring a breathy jazz reading of Warm Water, and a playful acoustic take on Aaliyah's Are You That Somebody? The crowd, surprisingly, knows every word of both - although the best reaction is reserved for the yearning Waiting Game, which builds to a stunningly claustrophobic climax.

"I'm buzzing off your energy," the singer beams as the set draws to a close. But she has one last, secret weapon: A new song, Stick, built around the irresistible click of a castanet (think Missy Elliot's Pass That Dutch). Smoking hot and instantly memorable, it must be a shoo-in for her next, breakthrough single.

As the song unfolds, Banks struts to the front of the stage and purrs: "I wanna know how you taste." Perhaps we haven't come that far, after all.


SETLIST

Before I Ever Met You

This Is What It Feels Like

Change

Brain

Goddess

Bedroom wall

Fall over

Warm Water

Are You That Somebody? (Aaliyah cover)

Waiting Game

Stick

Encore

What You Need (The Weeknd cover)

PS: Banks plays Koko again on Tuesday, 1 April. It's sold out but there were a few last-minute production tickets on the door tonight. As you can probably tell, I'd recommend it.

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Review: Lissie rocks Shepherd's Bush

If you want to be a rock star, here's a top tip: Step back when you finish singing a line, pause for a little too long, then launch yourself at the mic just in the nick of time to belt out the next lyric.

It's thrilling, surprisingly so, and Illinois' Lissie has perfected the art. In fact, it's just one trick in her bag of, er... tricks - as evidenced by an air-punching, hair-mussing, freewheeling rock revue she staged at Shepherd's Bush Empire on Tuesday.

She eases us in gently, with the country-tinged ballads Wedding Bells and Bully (during which her bassist Lewis Keller gamely doubles up on drums using a complicated system of pedals and levers).

The pace quickens with a song called, ironically, Sleepwalking, and soon you can't move for guitar solos. Eric Sullivan, on lead, pulls some incredible faces - "it's like he's having an orgasm in the middle of a maths exam," someone says - but even that can't take the focus off Lissie's incredible vocals.

Twice as powerful but half as shrill as Florence + The Machine, she belts out every song like it's a sermon. The 31-year-old has a raspy, dusty timbre that sounds like she swallowed a desert. On the acoustic numbers - They All Want You, Back To Forever - you can't keep your ears off her.

If there's a criticism, it's that the band sometimes get scrappy on the faster numbers - although it's nice to hear musicians getting carried away when so many gigs, even "authentic" rock shows, are controlled by click-track.

Anyway, the crowd lap it up - hollering the outro to Little Lovin' long after the song ends. "You're all so brave and participatory," coos Lissie, happily.

As the evening draws to a close, she's got a few stage tricks to spare, hurling a guitar offstage to her technician ("I've never done that before and I was waiting to mess it up but I didn't") and teasing the crowd over the encore.

"This is our last song," she announces, miming huge air quotes. "But we might come back if you freak out".

Freaking out duly ensues and Lissie sends us out into the night with a shot of Tequila and her sublime cover of Kid Cudi's Pursuit Of Happiness. "I think this is the longest set we've ever played," she declares. I'd have happily taken another hour...

Disclaimer: None of the photos above were taken last night, because I am the world's worst cameraman. If you were relying on my "skills" all you would have got is this...

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Mini review: Arcade Fire at the Roundhouse

I'm not sure Arcade Fire have quite grasped the concept of pseudonyms.

"We're the Reflektors," announces Win Butler on stage at the Roundhouse. "That's our fake band name. We've been a fake band since 19-fakety-fake."

Not that anyone is fooled. Even when the musicians emerge on stage wearing tiger masks, we're all pretty certain this is Arcade Fire. After all, what are the chances that two bands would make such a compelling noise whilst looking like a multi-instrumental version of The Addams Family?

But Butler (dressed in a black and white inkblot tuxedo and what can only be described as pajama bottoms) insists on keeping the artifice alive. He introduces Power Out (from their first album) as an Arcade Fire cover, and later improvises the lyrics "People from art school playing in a fake band. People from art school pretending to do art" over a strummed guitar.

But for all the costumes and smokescreens, the band are playing their most emotionally honest and open-hearted music to date. And it shows.

Augmented by fantastic Haitian percussion duo Diol and Twill, they fulfill the rock + disco + carnival ambitions of their new album much more successfully than on the record itself. There's a giddy party vibe, with the audience largely sporting face paints and costumes, from black tie and gold suits to, in one case, a crocodile onesie. What's more, everyone is on their feet. Beside me, a wonderful, spontaneous dance breaks out during Here Comes The Night Time, as everyone starts bobbing up and down in time to the lolloping, reggae-inspired rhythms.

And it turns out this is exactly what the band were hoping for. "We wanted to translate the spirit of something we'd experienced at carnival in Haiti to a way people back home would understand it," Butler recently told Time Out. "It was the first time I enjoyed dancing as part of a huge crowd."

He's definitely bowled over by the fans' willingness to join in at Monday's show. "Everyone that embraced the fancy dress, you look great and we love you," he says. "To everyone who felt uncomfortable... I'm not sorry.

"The percentage of people getting laid tonight is up like 10,000% on a normal show. As long as you shower. That's the secret, boys".

By the end of the set, the band are even promising to come out and dance with the fans in the auditorium (Much as I'd have loved to, I'm afraid I didn't stick around for the Arcade Fire dance throwdown - but any video evidence would be most welcome.)

It'll be interesting to see how this party atmosphere translates to the inevitable arena dates and festival appearances next year. Let's hope they manage it because, on last night's evidence, Arcade Fire - who always seemed to be having a private party on stage - have finally found a way to get everyone involved.

9/10


Setlist
Reflektor
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Flashbulb Eyes
Joan of Arc
You Already Know
We Exist
It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)
My Body Is a Cage (a capella)
Afterlife
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Normal Person
Uncontrollable Urge (Devo cover)
Here Comes the Night Time

Encore:
Crown of Love
Haiti

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Review: Justin Timberlake at Wireless 2013

"I'm sorta drunk," says Justin Timberlake, adopting a cor blimey 'ave a gander at them luverly cockles London accent. "I'm a sloight bit pissed".

If we ever needed conclusive proof that he should give up acting, this was it... Except he'd already destroyed any memories of his cruelly-overlooked performances in "Black Snake Moan" and "Yogi Bear: The Movie" with a non-stop, solid gold, rump-shaking 2-hour spectacular.

He hit the ground running with Like I Love You, My Love, Cry Me A River - a trio of hits most artists would reserve for an encore. "Are we there yet?" he asked, as he finally paused for breath. "I think we're there".

Translation: "Have I played enough of the good ones that you'd excuse some of the tedious crap off my new album?"

Only that wasn't it at all. Justin had de-crapped the crap ones. Pusher Love Girl shed its 92-minute b-section; Tunnel Vision gained a chaotic climax that veered thrillingly into drum and bass; He didn't play the one about the Spaceship Coupe at all.

Result.

Accents aside, he's a versatile performer, playing electric piano on a salsafied Señorita and twanging his acoustic guitar for What Goes Around / Comes Around. But it was the footwork, not the fretwork, that really impressed.

Justin's feet, as we know, are fitted with steam jets and hummingbird wings that enable him to glide across the stage on a cushion of air. He dances with such effortless panache that you think "oh yeah, I totally see how he does that" until you try it out and collapse in a bitter twist of leg parts, elbones and underpants.

The audience only kept up with him once, during a cover of The Jacksons' Shake Your Body Down (To The Ground). "I wanna shovel the floor," Justin grinned, as he mimed clearing a snowdrift off his drive... In the middle of summer. In a car park covered with astroturf.

The Jacksons song, the obvious inspiration for his "brand, baby-spanking new" single Take Back The Night, wasn't the only cover in a set targeted firmly at a festival audience. We also got INXS's Need You Tonight and Jay-Z's I Just Want To Love You (Give It To Me), before the real Jay-Z appeared during the encore for Suit And Tie.

"I'm stunned," said Justin as he surveyed the Olympic Park audience. "I won't leave it this long again next time." Then he promised "a few more surprises" over the weekend. Jay-Z headlines the festival on Saturday, and the two superstars play a joint set on Sunday. Given that Justin had earlier teased a verse from N****s In Paris, it might be worth snapping up the few remaining tickets tonight.

9/10

Setlist
Like I Love You
My Love
Cry Me A River - incorporating N****s In Paris
Pusher Love Girl
Summer Love
Señorita
That Girl
Tunnel Vision
Let The Groove Get In
FutureSex / Lovesound
Need You Tonight
Lovestoned / I Think She Knows
Until The End Of Time
Take Back The Night
Rock Your Body - incorporating I Just Want To Love You (Give It To Me)
Shake Your Body Down (To The Ground)
What Goes Around... / ...Comes Around (acoustic)
Mirrors

Encore
Suit And Tie
SexyBack


And a final word from JT...

London... I have NO WORDS. That was a night I will never forget. Unreal. Hope you had as much fun as we did. #TNKids #WirelessFestival

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) July 13, 2013

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Review: Jessie Ware, Shepherd's Bush Empire

Once in a while, you see a perfect gig. A charismatic singer, an incredible band, a receptive audience. This was one of those shows.

Like her music, Jessie Ware spent much of the night in the shadows. She didn't have (or didn't want) a follow spotlight, flitting in and out of the dark - encouraging us to follow her voice around the room. And what a voice. She's equally comfortable with a Nutbush rasp or an operatic crescendo. Sensuous, gorgeous, striking, beautiful.

Playing a second sold-out night in her home town, Ware was understandably giddy. "I'm in heaven," she told the audience. "I saw my first ever gig here - Another Level!" Later, she spotted a couple at the front of the crowd who'd been following her tour around the UK. "You're crazy!" she scolded. "You've been to Manchester, Birmingham... You're going to get bored!"

There was no chance of that. Irresistible on record, Ware's music is even more seductive in concert. Her three-piece band added a touch of warmth to the polished grooves of Night Light and If You're Never Going To Move, while Ware playfully cued up backing vocals on a sample pad. Drummer Dornik Leigh won a few fans of his own, as he subsituted for Sampha on the sweet soul duet Valentine. "I have a fabulous singing drummer," noted Ware, "just like Phil Collins".

Other highlights included new song Imagine It Was Us (inspired by Janet Jackson, although it sounded more like Cherelle to me) and No To Love, backed by the 40-piece Goldsmith Vocal Ensemble, which transmogrified into Marvin Gaye's I Want You.

Several times, the 28-year-old stopped to point out people who'd inspired her - including best friend Sara, the subject of Wildest Moments, and brother Alex, responsible for Taking In Water. During the latter, Ware choked on her hair ("don't you just love it when you get hair stuck in your throat when you're doing a really big ballad?") but it was tears she was choking back at the end of the night.

"You're making me cry!" she said. "My dreams are literally coming true."

"Oh my God, I sound like Gwyneth Paltrow. Shut up!"

Setlist
Devotion
Still Love Me
Night Light
If You're Never Going To Move
Imagine It Was Us
Sweet Talk
Swan Song
Taking In Water
Something Inside
What You Won't Do For Love
Valentine
No To Love / I Want You
Wildest Moments
Running

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Review: Girls Aloud Ten Tour at the O2

I'm now a veteran of six (!) Girls Aloud tours, with the glowstick burns to prove it. As anyone knows, the main task upon leaving a Girls Aloud concert is to decide which girl is the best girl in Girls Aloud. Here's how it worked out last night.

1) THE SINGING
Oh dear. The vocals were decidedly wobbly on Sunday night. There were missed cues, sharp harmonies, and ad-libs that sounded like a plane full of mating cats going into a nosedive (I'm looking at you, Sarah). In the band's defence, their voices were a bit fragile after performing four shows in three days - as Nadine explained on Twitter, there'd been an extra run-through for the cameras on Saturday afternoon, as the show was filmed for a DVD.

Poor Nicola could be seen clutching her throat in between her lines - but when she let rip, she was incredible. A vampish "always thought you were so cool" in Wake Me Up was an early highlight, but when she practically burst into tears during Beautiful Cause You Love Me, it sent shivers up my spine.

Verdict: Nicola wins.


2) THE COSTUMES
Top marks to the designers on this tour. Gone were the spangly bikinis and luminous unitards of previous outings, replaced by elegant-yet-sexy basques and Oscar-worthy ballgowns. The bulk of the credit goes to Vicky Barkess - a wardrobe mistress on Strictly - who designed the costumes for the feather-tastic carnival section (the one where Cheryl had angel wings) and the Supremes-inspired 60s outfits. And who wore it best?

Verdict: Nicola wins.



3) ON-STAGE BANTER
Girls Aloud tours are not known for their Wildean repartee and quotable bon mots. There was a lot of thanking the fans, and saying how "unbelievable" it was to have spent 10 years together. Sarah made a good start, screaming "Big Mouth Is Bloody Back", but then lost her nerve.

So it was up to Nadine and her garbled Derry accent to give us the night's best lines, including the she-actually-can't-speak-French classic: "Wurr gonta take it back for youse to circa la 2004".

Later, as she introduced Call The Shots, Nadine inadvertently revealed her opinion of the band's back catalogue, declaring: "Now, this one's a really good one."

Verdict: Nadine wins.



4) CHOREOGRAPHY
Weirdly, the show made no use of Cheryl's athletic body-popping or Kimberley's Strictly dance chops, but there were a few nice touches - especially during the b-stage section. Constricted to a smaller space, the girls performed a complicated interweaving routine for Untouchable focused around some pleasingly intricate hand choreography. The line "we're beautiful robots dancing alone" led to a brief outburst of robot dancing. Nice.

Verdict: Group win.



5) INTERACTION
For all of the tabloid stories of inter-band rivalries, Girls Aloud have always seemed a closely-knit unit. Nowhere is this relationship more evident than with Cheryl and Kimberley. Ms Cole was constantly trying to distract her bandmate, giving her a hefty wallop on the bum during one of her solo lines, and pulling stupid faces while she talked to the crowd.

Then, during the encore, the band sang I'll Stand By You. When they got to the line "I’m a lot like you", Cheryl And Kimberley turned and gave each other a big hug. Ahhhhh.

Verdict: Cheryl and Kimberley win.


6) MUSICALITY
The Ten Tour is a jaunt through Girls Aloud's greatest hits and, by that token, it probably has the best set-list of their career, taking a vaguely chronological run through their biggest singles. Interestingly, the early hits all seemed to be in a much lower register than the likes of Call The Shots and The Promise, which certainly didn't help with those aforementioned vocal problems - but it was interesting to see how the lead vocals got divided up as the media focus on the band members changed (ie Cheryl got to sing a lot more in the X Factor years).

The band, led by the brilliantly-named Paul Beard, took an organic approach to the arrangements, with a loose, live band feel that freshened up some of the more familiar numbers. There was even *gasp* a jazz guitar solo in Can't Speak French.

The usual suspects provided the highlights - Something Kinda Ooooh is a perfect thump to the middle of your chest; Call The Shots made 20,000 people swoon; and, after all these years, it's still impossible not to jump to Jump. The band kept alive the tradition of throwing in a recent cover song (Call Me Maybe) to prove how much better their own material is, and Wake Me Up still provides ample opportunity for the quintet to toss their hair in front of a wind machine.

Music is the real winner here, but I'm giving the prize to the only Girl Aloud with a writing credit for last night's set.

Verdict: Nicola wins.

So there you have it. Nicola Roberts is currently the best girl in Girls Aloud. But it could all change, depending on when and where you see the show (NB: nobody sees the show unless their hearts say so). If you're at any of the subsequent dates, put your verdict in the comments box. Or just look at the pretty pictures. It's entirely up to you.

















(images via Pingufivemins, dark1angel and Nuno Goncalves)
SETLIST
Act 1
Sound Of The Underground
No Good Advice
My Life Got Cold
Wake Me Up
Jump

Interlude (Models music video)

Act 2
The Show
Love Machine
Whole Lotta History
Can’t Speak French
Biology

Act 3 (b-stage)
Sexy! No No No
Untouchable
On The Metro
Call The Shots

Act 4
Something Kinda Ooh
Call Me Maybe (cover)
Beautiful 'Cause You Love Me
Something New

Encore
I’ll Stand By You
The Promise

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Chvrches: Gig review

Last night, London's tiny Electrowerkz club was rammed with people hoping to be converted to the cult of Chvrches... And they didn't leave disappointed.

The trio hail from Glasgow, where they've played with a number of bands over the years - dabbling in emo and indie rock before settling on their current incarnation. You can hear echoes of those earlier projects in the band's gothic brand of synthpop. Distorted riffs and an undercurrent of gloom underpin even their shiniest moments.

Admirably, the band say they want to avoid the metronomic precision of modern pop. "We are trying to keep things rougher," keyboardist Martin Doherty told The Guardian. "Instead of quantising everything in a 'dance' way, we want to keep it rough, like demos."

Imperfection gives the songs soul. But the dealbreaker is Lauren Mayberry's keening vocals. Simultaneously delicate and powerful, they come coated in a thick Glasgow brogue, which gives me flashbacks to Clare Grogan and her 80s band, Altered Images.

Mayberry is immensely likeable, chattering away between songs, and warning fans she can see into the toilets from the stage. When the songs drift off into instrumental sections, she grabs a tambourine and windmills it around her in a way that suggests she'll grow into a superb frontwoman, given a little more time.

The set falters slightly on a cover of Prince's I Would Die 4U - or, presumably, I Would Die 4V. Not that it's a terrible version, or even a bad song choice, just that the band never quite capture the juddering nihilism of the original (for more on the band's Prince obsession, read this interview).

Things perk up after that, as Chvrches close the set with their two best songs - We Sink and The Mother We Share. After that, Lauren informs us she's off to book tickets for Bodyguard: The Musical, as the band are downing tools for the rest of the year.

They should enjoy the break. 2013's going to be busy.

Chvrches - The Mother We Share (Radio One Session)

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Review: Ingrid Michaelson at Union Chapel

If you're in the middle of an all-consuming crush, Ingrid Michaelson's The Way I Am is the perfect song for you. Over a gummy double bass, the singer blushes her way through silly sentiments like, "I love the way you say 'good morning'". It's a miracle the song doesn't end with someone going "no you hang up first".

Released in 2008, The Way I Am was used in an advert for Old Navy clothing (there's a lyric about sweaters) and made the singer famous in the States. OK not exactly famous famous: Michaelson describes her status as "somewhere between Lady Gaga and the girl who hosts the open mic night at the coffee house".

But the song has taken on a life of it's own and, for years, fans excitedly approached the US singer to inform her The Way I Am was their wedding song.

And so she grew to hate it.

"What I began to hear was, 'we're getting married and you're going to die alone and your cats will eat your corpse,'" she deadpans.

Thankfully, Michaelson got married last year (to fellow musician Greg Laswell) and The Way I Am has been resurrected. It formed a central part of her warm-hearted set at London's Union Chapel last night. Cute, self-deprecating anecdotes like the one above peppered the show, in which Michaelson was backed by just two musicians - Allie Moss and Bess Rogers - whose harmonies were as heavenly as the setting.

On records, the singer (who refuses to sign to a major label) has often been suffocated by pillowy production, but in this environment she shone. Even the ridiculously twee psychobabble of Be OK sounded fresh and energised. During Ghost, Michaelson's vocals sounded more broken and desolate than ever before. "When I first played this to my mom," the singer recalled, "she asked if I was ok". You could see why.

The audience loved this stripped-back, exposed approach. There was even a genuine "we want more" encore - during which Michaelson played Elvis's Can't Help Falling In Love, inviting the crowd to sing the hook. Like the rest of the gig, it was generous, inclusive and full of quirky charm.

I'm pretty certain a few people stumbled into the bitter night with a Ready Brek glow.

Ingrid Michaelson - You And I (live via shakycam at Union Chapel)

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Review: Lana Del Rey at the Roundhouse for the iTunes festival

Oh Lana, where shall we begin?

The music: That was beautiful. Your acoustic re-arrangements of the Born To Die album tracks were sublime. The four-piece string quartet made the music soar, but not in the frightening, off-key way your voice did when you went for the high notes.

The stage banter: "Could I have more reverb in my ears"; "No, we don't have time for that one". It was like Billy Crystal at the Oscars. ON CRACK.

The choreography: Off. The. Chain. Remember that bit when you walked over there and waved at a guy, then walked over there and fiddled with your hair, huffing and puffing as if the gargantuan effort of it all might make you swoon? They can't teach that kind of stuff at ballet school.

The songs: Video Games, National Anthem, Summertime Sadness. They are all still brilliant. If you'd played for more than 40 minutes, maybe you could have done Off To The Races and Diet Mountain Dew, too.

And the singing. Oh, the singing. You know in La Vie En Rose, when Edith Piaf is dying of emphysema and her voice is all over the place, like a ragged sock in a tumble dryer? I enjoyed your impersonation of that. And I liked how you followed it up by saying, "You love it when I go a little bit jazzy."

But here's the thing... It might seem like I'm being negative and critical and, basically, a total bastard - but I really, really enjoyed myself.

Those songs, those arrangements, and even those languid, buttery vocals cast a bewitching, stupefying spell over the audience. I doubt another artist in the world could have pulled it off, but you managed it, you gauche pop superhero in skinny blue jeans.

Enigmatic, phlegmatic, idiosyncratic, melodramatic, hydromatic - why, it was greased lightning.

Set list
Blue Jeans
Body Electric
Born To Die
Summertime Sadness
Million Dollar Man
Video Games
Radio
Without You
National Anthem

You can watch the whole gig on iTunes now. Which is where this fantastic picture comes from...

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Review: Lady Gaga, Born This Way Ball, Twickenham Stadium

Lady Gaga has some information. It's complicated information and she wants to make sure we understand it, so she repeats it a dozen times during this two-and-a-half hour gothic pop extravaganza. "Do not be afraid to be who you are," she commands. "This is the greatest freedom we can know".

This message is the foundation stone of the Born This Way Ball.

It is also the message of Disney's Aladdin.

Still, you can't deny its impact. Twickenham Stadium, home of English Rugby, is rammed full of heavily made-up acolytes (Gaga calls them "monsters") who've been inspired by Gaga's outré outfits. There are neon wigs, coke can hairdos, all manner of ill-fitting lycra and some truly terrifying bum cleavage. Even the disabled section houses the most pimped-out, pink sequinned wheelchair I've ever seen in my life.

How will Gaga up the fashion ante in the face of this? For one thing, she actually appears as the human motorbike from the Born This Way album cover, her limbs entwined with the machine which later, amazingly, becomes a piano.

Other outfits could be loosely described as Intergalactic bee-keeper; Statue Of Liberty bondage party swimming costume; and "I can literally see your vagina".

While the costumes are breath-taking, conceptually the show is all over the place. The story goes that Gaga is an alien fugitive who's escaped from a medieval castle where she was simultaneously being kept prisoner and owned a walk-in wardrobe, and now she's visiting other planets to "absorb all culture", before "invading earth" as "your pop star" and... OH JUST GET ON WITH IT, WOMAN.

When that pop invasion finally happens, the Born This Way Ball is up there with the best: not least because Gaga sings 100% live, even during the more exhausting dance breaks. There's a section that runs Bad Romance, Judas, Fashion of His Love, Just Dance, LoveGame, Telephone that is almost perfect - a 30-minute shot of adrenalin in your earballs, eyeholes and dancebones.

Other moments drag, however. Particularly the more teutonic, tuneless tracks from Gaga's second album. And a lengthy speech about new song Princess Die ("I wrote it about Princess Diana, I wrote it about myself, I wrote it about Amy and Whitney") isn't half as moving as she thinks; settling somewhere between trite and astonishingly dumb. The same goes for the song itself.

Still, I suspect I wasn't the target audience for these bits. Gaga plays solely for her core audience of freaks, fashionistas and misfits. An audience who, she reveals, her record label once branded "too niche".

"Well this is a big fucking niche," she crows. "I quite like our little stadium niche."

She is pelted with gifts from the "monster pit" - including a barbie that she tears apart, limb by limb, and a t-shirt labelled Art Pop (the title of her new album, announced just this week), which Gaga gamely picks up and wears for the back half-hour of the show.

Eventually a lucky few get to join Gaga on stage (one, bravely, wearing nothing but hotpants and two strips of masking tape on her breasts). They are struck dumb, on the verge of wetting themselves - but they get crowned audience ambassadors, and lead the 55,000-strong crowd in a final, full-throated chorus of Marry The Night.

It is a beautiful, mad, chaotic mess.

As I said on Twitter: Gaga brought us to The Edge Of Glory, to The Edge Of Insanity, and to The Edge Of Pornography.

I had a thoroughly good night.

SETLIST
Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)
Government Hooker
Born This Way
Black Jesus † Amen Fashion
Bloody Mary
Bad Romance
Judas
Fashion of His Love
Just Dance
LoveGame
Telephone
Heavy Metal Lover
Bad Kids
Hair
Princess Die
Imagine (John Lennon cover)
Yoü & I
Electric Chapel
Paparazzi
Scheiße

Encore
The Edge of Glory
Marry the Night


Full disclosure: The above photos are all general shots from the last 45 dates of the Born This Way Ball world tour... I only had my iPhone with me, mainly resulting in "detailed" and "perfectly-exposed" shots like this one.

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Mini Gig Review: Elbow at the iTunes Festival

A colleague of mine interviewed Elbow right at the start of their career, and has stayed in touch with the band over the years. She always makes an effort to see them play when they're in town because, she says, "it feels like my best friend and his band from school made it big."

The thing is, I think everyone shares that sentiment, no matter when they first stumbled across Elbow and their tender, melancholy rock lullabies. No band I've ever seen has the power to transform a room full of strangers into a group of instant friends, then transport every single one of them to a whole other plane simply by singing a bit.

This is all down to the ebullient, self-deprecating, beardy frontman Guy Garvey, who wears his heart on his sleeve - even when, as he illustrated at the Roundhouse last night, he struggles to put his jacket on.

Garvey introduces Puncture Repair with a short, but touching speech about the night that inspired the song: "My heart was broken," he told the audience ('awwww,' the chorused; 'I thank you,' he grinned).

"The only person I knew who would be awake at the time of morning it was, because he had a tiny baby, was our drummer Richard," he continued. "So, I phoned Richard and I said [comedy shaky voice] 'my heart's broken, I don't know what to do,' and he came and got me, drove me back to his house, put his baby in my arms, and made me cups of tea while he listened to me blub. Then a few days later, Craig [Potter] and I wrote this.,,"

It's an intimate moment, but its not the only one. When the band face each other in a tight circle and play Weather To Fly, you get the sense that this slightly gruff, blokey band have found in music the only way to express how much they love each other. And when they turn back to face us for a final, exhilarating blast of One Day Like This (the audience even does the harmonies), it's clear they want to share that feeling with the world. Tears were shed, beers were held aloft, there may even have been cuddles.

It was emotional.

The gig was part of the iTunes Festival - so you can stream all 1hr 44min of it on your PC or Apple gadget thing. Here is the link for your convenience.

SETLIST
High Ideals
The Bones of You
Mirrorball
Leaders of the Free World
Grounds for Divorce
The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver
The Night Will Always Win
Puncture Repair
Some Riot
Lippy Kids
Station Approach
Weather to Fly
Open Arms

Encore
The Birds
One Day Like This

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Paloma Faith at Somerset House: Review

"Sing along if you know the words. If you don't, feel free to gently partake in the observation of the whole thing."

A Paloma Faith show is as memorable for the star's stage patter as it is for the songs. She has the same linguistic flourishes as Russell Brand, delivered with the petulant lisp of Violet Elizabeth Bott.

"I'm sorry for the rain," she told the audience at London's Somerset House last night. "I had an arrangement with God to keep it dry, but I guess I pissed him off. Again."

He must have been pleased with her set, though, because the rain dried up after the opening number – When You're Gone - which she performed standing on top of a toy piano.

It was one of the few theatrical touches in a show that seemed strangely stripped-back. I had expected a lavish production, with dancers and lights and a man dressed as a bear – but, as the singer acknowledged: "My record label already think I spend too much: 'She does the show of someone infinitely more successful than what she is."

The 27-year-old more than made up for it with her vocals, which pack in more drama than a box set of The Wire. The melodramatic miseriballads from her new album soared, especially Agony and Picking Up The Pieces, while Stone Cold Sober and Upside Down provided a much-needed tempo boost.

The show concluded with a frock-rocking new song, Cellulite, excluded from Fall To Grace for being "too jolly", and Freedom – which was prefaced by a long speech about BREAKING the RULES and DISOBEYING society’s CONVENTIONS (the effect was curtailed somewhat when members of the audience, who had been invited on stage, were promptly ushered off in case Paloma broke her curfew).

She plays the venue again tonight – and there are tickets available on the door if you feel like gently partaking in the observation of the whole thing.

Paloma Faith - Picking Up The Pieces

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Review: The Pierces at Union Chapel

The Pierces are not of this world. They drift onto the stage, their legs apparently still under their floaty chiffon dresses. Allison summons a tambourine into her hand from thin air. Catherine resists all attempts to photograph her, simply appearing as a glowing white blob.

Their harmonies are supernatural, too. It's impossible to tell the sisters apart, their voices gloriously tangled in perfect union. They make it look casual, but I suspect it might be magic.

The heavenly vocals are perfectly fitted to the setting, Islington's Union Chapel, unlike the menacing undertone of their lyrics ("you get scared when we're alone, like I might suck your blood"). "Is this music appropriate for the Lord?" asks Allison, philosophically. "Well, I think all music pleases God."

After an absence of six months, many fans are expecting the band to play new material. Catherine, the more mischievous of the two siblings, is aware of the anticipation. "We've been working on new songs for you," she teases, "but we're not going to play them tonight. Just know that they're in the works."

Highlights include a sinewy, threatening Love You More, the sugar-coated cyanide pill of Secret and a dark twist on Nirvana's Come As You Are. There may well have been more but mrsdiscopop suddenly took ill and we had to leave. She says it was the heat. I think it was voodoo.

The Pierces - I Put Your Records On (Union Chapel)


Setlist
Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode cover)
Love You More
It Will Not Be Forgotten
Drag You Down
Kissing You Goodbye
Piece Of You (b-side)
Sticks And Stones
Secret
The Good Samaritan
Close My Eyes
Come As You Are
City On Fire
Space + Time
We Are Stars
You'll Be Mine
Glorious
Kathy's Song
I Put Your Records On
Boring

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The Staves: Gig Review - Tabernacle, London

Here's a problem that occurred to me while watching The Staves last night: How do singers convey a story of loss and betrayal when they're part of a vocal harmony group?

Heartbreak is an intensely personal, lonely experience. But harmony by definition means co-operation and unity. If three people are singing in unison about emotional torment - and The Staves have a song that goes, "Everyone I know is gone, and I don't even know myself" - doesn't that dilute the impact?

Not always, as it turns out.

Bands like Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver (who The Staves tour with next month) use complex harmonies to establish a mood, but I'm often unmoved by their lyrical content. The Staves do it differently. They never embellish their melodies, dropping down to a lone voice for the most intimate moments. When the sisters sing "I'm not the best at moving on", during Icarus, it has an exquisitely mournful quality.

In between the songs, however, Emily, Jessica and Camilla are disarmingly funny. "So, has anyone here been mis-sold PPI?" asks Emily (at 29, the eldest sibling) apropos of nothing, while her sisters tune up their guitars. Later, Jessica pulls a Frank Spencer impersonation out of thin air: "Ooooh," she quivers, as the rest of the band collapse in hysterics, "I've had a bit of trouble".

You'd never get this from Laura Marling.

If I had a criticism at all, it's that too many of the songs hover around the same tempo. There's very little variance in the set before the end, when Wisely And Slow bursts into life, finally giving the drummer something to do.

The band even admit their bass guitarist Douglas fell asleep mid-concert a couple of nights ago. But the audience at The Tabernacle show no signs of nodding off. Songs new and old get an enthusiastic reception and there's a (rare for London) pin-drop silence during the quiet bits. Which is quite a feat when 95% of the gig is quiet bits.

The Staves are due to release their debut album in the summer. If you get the chance to see them before everyone else catches on, I thoroughly recommend it.

The Staves - Mexico


The Staves - Winter Trees


SETLIST:
Motherlode
Icarus
Gone Tomorrow
Facing West
Pay Us No Mind
Mexico
Tongue Behind My Teeth
Wisely and Slow
Winter Trees

Encore
DBG (with Christof)
In The Long Run

Photos courtesy of PA Hudson, via Flickr, under a Creative Commons licence.

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