Concert Review: Groove Armada – O2 Brixton Academy, London, October 15, 2010

The year 2010 has been a massive year for Groove Armada.  They released their sixth studio album Black Light to great acclaim and followed up with an explosive string of concerts and festival appearances across Europe, America and Australia.  Groove Armada have finally come into their own and what do they do?  They announce that they are retiring and that the current tour will be their last as a live band.  It is no surprise then that we made our way to the O2 Brixton Academy in London to see their penultimate performance with mixed feelings of sadness and excitement.

We took our seats upstairs in the circle balcony and it was all really nice as we listened to a DJ duo churn out a set of pleasant but down-tempo house tunes.  It all sounded rather ‘cocktail hour’ and I wondered for a moment if I was in the right place.  Any doubts I may have had were erased when support act Retro/Grade hit the stage.  They launched straight into a manic hour of banging techno tracks that soon had the audience whooping and cheering and definitely set the tone for the evening to come.  Retro/Grade describe their sound as falling into that space between disco and house music and they have done a great job of modernising the early Italo disco sound.

After reaching such a frenzied state with Retro/Grade, the wait for Groove Armada to come on to stage was almost excruciating but eventually Tom Findlay, Andy Cato and SaintSaviour bounded onto the stage and launched straight into “Look Me in the Eye Sister” and “I Won’t Kneel”.  The effect was incredible. SaintSaviour’s vocals are more impressive and powerful live than I could ever have imagined and it was thrilling to hear them start the evening with two of my favourite songs from the new album. 

 

SaintSaviour steals all of the attention on stage with her energetic dancing, crazy outfits and amazing voice but she was not the only star vocalist of the evening.  Up next was MC M.A.D. who entered the stage to massive applause from the audience.  MC M.A.D. is the distinctive ragga voice behind some of Groove Armada’s biggest hits and he has fantastic charisma and stage presence.

Seeing Groove Armada live with this line up at this point in their career was an absolute treat.  It was an incredible show and with the help of SaintSaviour and MC M.A.D., Groove Armada delivered some of their biggest hits including “My Friend”, “Paper Romance”, “Cards To Your Heart”, “Fogma” and “Madder”. 

All too soon the band left the stage, returning only for a short encore.  It was a bittersweet moment as I realised that this was it, the moment where the live stage career of Groove Armada finally came to a close.  (I must confess to being in denial though and I somewhat hope that they’ll be back in a year or two).  That feeling of melancholy did not last for long though as they gave the most incredible send off when they finally broke into the opening chords of “Superstylin’” to manic cheers from the audience.  A fountain of silver and white balloons fell from the air as MC M.A.D. belted out this most favourite of Groove Armada songs and the crowd went crazy.  As the band left the stage, all you could hear was the popping of the balloons and the effect was not unlike hearing a fireworks display.  It was a thrilling, life-affirming moment and an absolutely fitting send of to a brilliant band.

Article first published as Concert Review: Groove Armada – O2 Brixton Academy, London, October 15, 2010 on Blogcritics.

Festival Review: Exit Festival 2010, Novi Sad

Before going to Exit Festival 2010, someone told me that it is the most beautiful festival on the planet and it is not difficult to see why she thought so.  Exit Festival is held each July in the Petrovaradin Fortress which sits on a hill overlooking the river Danube and the historical city of Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city.  Thirteen stages plus food and other entertainment arenas are spread out across the sprawling expanse of the fortress and a great variety of musical tastes are represented including punk, hardcore, dance, reggae, indie and salsa.  Exit Festival 2010 took place from July 8 to 11 and close to one hundred acts performed each day.  The festival is unusual in that the acts begin after sundown and run right through the night until dawn the following morning so don’t go to Exit Festival expecting much sleep!  I felt sorry for the campers trying to sleep during the day with day time temperatures hovering in the mid-30°c range and was truly happy to be staying at a friend’s apartment in the city.

It would take a very long review indeed to mention all of the bands that we saw but these are the highlights and disappointments of Exit Festival 2010.

Friday

Fusion Stage, Friday July 9: Kawasaki 3P

 

The problem with seeing such a brilliant act so early in a festival is that it is inevitable that you’ll land up comparing everyone else you see to that act.  This is what happened with Kawasaki 3P.  We were trying to make our way to the Main Stage to catch Atari Teenage Riot when we walked past the Fusion Stage and saw the Croatian punk/ska band Kawasaki 3P explode on to the stage.  There was no way we could tear ourselves away as the energy and fever of this band was infectious and we landed up watching the whole show.  I had not even heard of them before the show but their manic trumpets, electric guitars and drums kept us dancing and it was a great performance.  My highlights of the show were “Puta Madre” and “Ni Da Ni Ne” and I think I may have developed a lasting crush on vocalist and trumpet player Demirel Pašalić.  Kawasaki 3P are one of the few bands that have impressed me so much live that I have rushed home and bought their music.

 

Main Stage, Friday July 9: Placebo

I am a Placebo fan, there is no denying that.  I have loved them from the moment I first heard “Pure Morning” back in 1998 and I have since bought all of their albums.  I had really highly expectations for this concert and Placebo were one of the main bands that drew me out to Novi Sad in the first place but their gig was disappointing.  Their songs sounded drowned out to the extent that I could only recognise “Every You Every Me” not from the distinctive introductory riff but from the lyrics.  After the show I asked my Serbian friend what she had thought as she was not too familiar with their music and she confirmed what I was thinking, that every song had sounded the same.  Perhaps they had thought there would be a language barrier  but the band also didn’t do too much to engage the crowd and in the end it was an unremarkable gig (which is not something I ever thought I would say about Placebo).  Despite a generally disappointing gig, there were highlights in “Battle For The Sun” and a cover of Nirvana’s “All Apologies” which ran into a fantastic performance of “Bitter End”.

Fusion Stage, Friday July 9: Does It Offend You, Yeah?

None of the locals that I spoke to on that first evening had even heard of Does It Offend You, Yeah? although I have been a fan of theirs since 2007 when I saw them at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park.  After their gig, however, everyone I spoke to had heard of them (even if they weren’t at the gig) and this gig will go down as one of the stand out moments of the whole festival.  They came on stage at 2am and absolutely rocked the small Fusion stage.  Their sound is best described as new rave or indie electronic and the show was raucous with front man James Rushent working the audience like a charm.  If I had to pick, I’d say my highlights were “Weird Science” and “Attack Of The 60 Ft Lesbian Octopus” with special mention going to “Battle Royale” for the guitar solo half way through which will forever remind me of Exit Festival 2010.  Their new material sounds incredible too and I am looking forward to the release of their new album Don't Say We Didn't Warn You in October 2010.

Fusion Stage, Friday July 9: Obojeni Program

It was nearing 4am in the morning and the sky was beginning to lighten by the time Novi Sad locals Obojeni Program came on to stage.  As tired as we were, we had to stay to watch this most loved band of the local scene.  This post-punk outfit have been around since 1980 and they are one of the only bands that have performed at every Exit Festival since inception. The lead singer Branislav Kebra has the most incredible voice and the highlights of their performance were “Pop” and “H1”.  I may not have heard of the band previous to seeing their performance but it left a great impression on me and is another band that I will be seeking to purchase in the near future.

Saturday

Main Stage, Saturday July 10: Klaxons

 

I had mixed feelings about the Klaxons gig.  They are officially my favourite band and I’ve waited a long time to see them in concert again after they spent the last couple of years touring the world and recording their new album.  Klaxons were known in the past for their raucous live gigs complete with crazy costumes but they often hyped up the noise factor at the expense of their vocal and instrumental performances.  It was some surprise then that they appeared on stage looking almost boyish in normal jeans and t-shirts and singing their songs in a very pleasant manner.  Their older material from the Myths of the Near Future album sounded close to the original recordings (although unmistakeably live) but it was their new material that got me wondering whether the mighty Klaxons have been tamed. 

We first began to hear new material such as “Valley Of the Calm Trees” two years ago.  It was wonderfully off-beat and psychedelic, as was the Klaxons trademark. It is no secret though that their record company sent them back to the recording studio after their first recording sessions and demanded that they record an album that they could sell.  A lack of costumes, good behaviour and some relatively low-key new material has me fearing the worst though but I’ll just have to wait for the new album to find out.  The highlights of the show for me were “Magick”, “Not Over Yet” and “Atlantis to Interzone”.  The gig was great but I really do hope the Klaxons don’t lose what made them unique in the first place.

Fusion Stage, Saturday July 10: Beast

 

I had not heard of Canadian band Beast before but they were another band that stopped me in my tracks as I tried to walk past the Fusion Stage.  I am a long time fan of Skunk Anansie so I don’t say this lightly but Beast are like Skunk Anansie, only better.  The band have a powerful rock sound and vocalist Betty Bonifassi was larger than life as she commanded the stage and the attention of the audience.  She is a great performer and she also tackled some pretty serious issues such as equality without coming across as preachy.  I’ll certainly be looking out for them in future.

Main Stage, Saturday July 10: Lollobrigida

Croatian dance punk band Lollobrigida were another act I had not heard of before but my Serbian friends insisted that we could not miss them.  The deserve mention simply because of their outlandish and provocative show.  These uber-feminist icons are massively entertaining on stage and you just needed to look at the lead singer Ida Prester’s praying mantis broach to know that these girls are man-eaters.  They encouraged a stage invasion and soon there were several very excited female fans on stage with them strutting their stuff in similarly minimal outfits.  Lollobrigida had perfect command of the main stage and worked the crowd up to a fever pitch and it is obvious why they earned their prime spot after years of playing the smaller stages.

Explosive Stage, Saturday 10 July: The Exploited

We went along to see veteran punk rockers The Exploited more out of curiosity than anything else.  Sex Pistols had performed in 2008 and had given a really disappointing performance and we wanted to know if The Exploited would be any better.  I can tell you that the Explosive Stage was absolutely jam packed and the band gave a powerful and, well, explosive performance.  They were loud, energetic and the crowd went crazy.  Unfortunately, I’m not a fan their particular brand of hardcore punk music.  I thought the music was without rhythm or any merit whatsoever and I was considering going to the first aid tent to get treatment for my bleeding ears.  Personal preferences aside though, I could recognise that it was in fact an excellent performance and I know that the crowd was not disappointed.

Fusion Stage, Saturday 10 July: Kulture Shock

Just after midnight on the Saturday night we found ourselves back at the Fusion Stage and I was soon coming to realise that this was my favourite stage of the entire festival.  Many of the bands I had seen here were completely unknown to me at first and yet I had not been disappointed by any of them.  Hailing from Seattle in the USA, Kulture Shock is a gypsy punk band with a Bosnian lead singer Srđan Jevđević.  The band were really quite good and they gave a fabulous performance.  Their combination of mayhem rock and violins give it a definite gypsy or ethnic folk sound.  I wasn’t familiar with their music before the show but their powerful and emotional song “Sarajevo” certainly stood out for me.

Sunday

Main Stage, Sunday 11 July: Pendulum Live

Pendulum are fast becoming one of the most played bands in my music collection.  Their new album Immersion is getting loads of radio play on both dance and alternative stations in the UK and they are famous for their riotous live gigs.  I expected pandemonium from the band that makes The Prodigy seem tame and I was certainly not disappointed.  My highlights were the lightning fast performances of “Salt in the Wounds”, “Immunize” and the massive hit “Watercolour”.  I also enjoyed the cover of The Prodigy’s “Voodoo People” and my old favourite “Slam”.  It was a great performance and Pendulum certainly whipped the crowd up into quite a frenzy. 

Main Stage, Sunday 11 July: Faith No More

Faith No More were the primary reason for me travelling to Serbia to go to the Exit Festival.  I have been a fan of theirs for over twenty years and never in a million years expected to see them in concert.  The band were famous for absolutely hating each other and were renowned for their infighting and physical confrontations.  If one band was not going to do a Pixies, I thought, it was Faith No More.  I was greatly surprised and excited when they began a reunion tour last year.  Having missed out on their dates in England last year, I bought my ticket to Exit Festival the minute I realised that Faith No More and Klaxons were on the same bill. 

With that qualification, I can honestly say that it was the worst concert performance I have ever attended.  Things began to go wrong when the band arrived on stage 35 minutes late.  Exit Festival had been impeccably managed up to that point and schedules had mostly run on time.  No explanation was given but it seemed that the crew were being overly pedantic regarding the set up of the equipment and repeated sound checks were taken.  At one stage there were isolated jeers and hisses from the crowd and I was worried for a moment that this would prevent the band from coming on stage.  They eventually did arrive with no explanation and little apology but they made it pretty clear that they were pleased with the football result.

So tens of thousands of fans had missed the World Cup final between Spain and Holland in order to get a good place for Faith No More and not only are they late but they rub their faces in it too?  Not cool.  Nevertheless, it would have been forgivable if the gig was any good but it wasn’t.  As much as it pains me to admit it, this was perhaps the most disappointing live performance I have ever attended.  There were songs like “From Out of Nowhere” and “Midlife Crisis” which I recognised not from the distinctive introductory guitars and baselines but from the lyrics themselves. These are songs that I have loved for over twenty years and which I know by heart.  Mike Patton alternatively growled, shouted and screamed his vocals and any hopes I had of hearing his distinctive, beautiful voice live were pretty much dashed.

My Serbian friends agreed at a point that the concert was pretty rubbish but then the band turned it all around by singing a Serbian folk song which won the crowd over.  Their rendition of “Ajde Jano” went down like a dream with the crowd and they repeated it during their encore.  Most of the people I spoke to loved that and they loved Patton’s drunken antics as he sat on top of the stage cameraman and climbed up the extended camera boom in a mad stunt.  One friend argued that it showed respect to sing a local song like that but arriving late, insulting the audience, downing rakia on stage and obstructing the camera view for the fans in the back do not spell respect to me.  Respect would have been to perform the music and the songs in a vaguely recognisable manner too but I believe this crazy pattern has been repeated in other performances around the globe.

There were a lot of mixed experiences at Exit Festival but there were also some great surprises and discoveries.  The performance by Kawasaki 3P was the best experience of the weekend for me but Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Obojeni Program and Pendulum deserve special mention too.  In terms of facilities, refreshments and organisation, Exit Festival seemed to be a huge improvement on the festivals I have attended in England but I believe that the numbers were down this year and it can get a lot busier. There is something about this festival and the town of Novi Sad that captured a part of my heart though. I would certainly recommend the festival and hope that in time it puts the town of Novi Sad on the international tourist map.

Article first published as Festival Review: Exit Festival 2010, Novi Sad, Serbia on Blogcritics.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 31: Klaxons

Not exactly wordless but this is probably the most I’ll be saying for a couple of days!  I went to Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia over the weekend.  It was incredible and I got to see Klaxons, my favourite band.  Thankfully, it wasn’t a typical festival camping experience as I stayed with my Serbian friend Maja in her apartment in Novi Sad and she took me around the countryside meeting her friends and seeing the city.  Nevertheless, I am exhausted in ways I had never dreamed possible and so I might be a little but scarce for the next week or so.  I dream of a world where Emm has caught up with all of her comments and blog reading!

Concert Review: Green Day – Wembley Stadium, London, June 19, 2010

California punk trio Green Day are currently on the second European leg of their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour and I was lucky enough to see them live at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.  There is something undeniably exciting about Wembley Stadium but as we took our seats at the beginning of the evening and I looked around the vast stadium, I had to wonder whether Green Day would be able to carry such a large arena.

We arrived just in time to see support act Joan Jett and the Blackhearts take the stage.  It feels strange to think that Joan Jett and the Blackhearts could be supporting another band considering how huge they have been over the years and I can remember standing on a wall with other nine-year-olds belting out “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” when it came out in 1982.  I had expected a washed out version of an aging rocker and I was absolutely proven wrong.  Joan Jett’s voice is as powerful and unique as the day she first hit the stage in 1975 and I was really impressed by her vocal range.  The highlight of the set was “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” which was followed by “Crimson and Clover”.  One of my mates asked whether the former song was a cover of the Britney Spears version and I incredulously insisted that it was not.  Confused, he asked when the Joan Jett version had come out and simply could not believe it when I told him.  Such was the power and energy of Joan Jett’s performance, assisted no doubt by how good she looks at 51, that he had not realised that these were veteran rockers. 

The interval leading up to the Green Day set was quite eventful.  There was, of course, the hilarious Drunken Bunny.  Nobody knows who the Drunken Bunny is but his drunken, slapstick routine certainly helps to pass the time.  My suspicion is that all of the band members act as the Drunken Bunny, alternating between shows. 

We had taken seated tickets and were seated in the Club Wembley tier on the bend.  These are normally reasonable seats but the first thing we noticed was that there was a massive lighting tower blocking our view of the centre stage.  One tip about Wembley is that if you are unhappy with your seats or your view is obstructed, you have to complain about it on the night.  It is written on their terms and conditions and they simply do not entertain complaints written after the event.  We complained and were moved a further two section towards the front of the arena which was brilliant.

We settled down just in time to see Green Day enter the stage.  The band opened with “Song of the Century”, running into “21st Century Breakdown” and one of my personal favourites “Know Your Enemy”.  There was a rather bizarre moment when Billie Joe Armstrong pulled up a young lad on to the stage and he latched on to Billie Joe and gave him a prolonged kiss smack on the lips.  Thankfully Billie Joe managed to disentangle himself in time for the next refrain.

Green Day certainly know how to work a crowd and the concert was one of the best displays of showmanship I have seen in ages.  Of course, it could all just be flattery as Billie Joe said that England was the greatest rock and roll country on Earth and that “we just seem to ‘get’ each other”.  Unsurprisingly, this was met by massive cheers as he shouted that Green Day are “not from California, we’re from fucking England!” 

“East Jesus Nowhere” was on next and another fan was pulled on to the stage.  We speculated for a moment whether the band were getting fined each time they did that as London is notorious for stringent health and safety concerns.  This time it was a young boy of about eleven-years-old and I do believe Billie Joe acted out sacrificing him on stage.  Another favourite of mine, “Holiday” was on next and the stadium went absolutely crazy.

The hits came thick and fast then and my highlights were “Give Me Novacaine” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” from the American Idiot album.  Tré Cool performed “Dominated Love Slave” much to the delight of the fans and a short while later they performed one of their first hits, “When I Come Around”.  This was followed by a fabulous medley of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Highway to Hell”.

During “Brain Stew”, Billie Joe showered the fans with a power washer before moving on to toilet roll missiles and finally firing t-shirts into the crowd.  He brought a fifteen-year-old on stage to sing the whole of “Long View” and this amusing, rather offkey performance was followed by another of their early hits “Basket Case”.

They then did their “King For A Day” and “Shout” medley which is becoming a permanent feature of their concerts with Tré Cool in drag doing something vaguely resembling the can-can.  They called him to the front for what was apparently a record of four sets before leading into another medley featuring “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” and “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”.  After another two explosive songs, they were suddenly gone from stage. 

A first encore is always a given in stadium shows and Green Day returned with “American Idiot” and “Jesus of Suburbia” with the crowd doing their part and going mad.  The band left the stage again only to be wooed back by a crowd that refused to believe they were gone.  It was all planned of course.  They took the mayhem down several notches and played three of their more sedate songs before sending a jubilant crowd home: “When It's Time”, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”.

There is no doubt that Green Day managed a headline stadium gig with utter mastery and perfection and I would absolutely recommend seeing them.  My concerns at the beginning of the evening seem quite bizarre to me now and I wonder how I could have ever doubted them.  Excellent gig!

Article first published as Concert Review: Green Day – Wembley Arena, London, June 19, 2010 on Blogcritics.

Concert: Cranes + worriedaboutsatan

I usually book concert tickets months and months in advance and spend just about forever looking forward to them.  To illustrate, this week I booked tickets to Muse on September 11th next year but I’ve resolved to only start counting down the sleeps after New Year.

So imagine my surprise when I visited my favourite band’s MySpace on Thursday and realised they were having a concert last night! It was all very exciting and I booked tickets immediately.

My favourite band is called Cranes and I’ve been a huge fan since 1993.  Naturally, I have all of their albums including the rare and obscure ones.  This is the third time I’ve gone to one of their concerts – the first time was in June 2004 and the last one was in October 2008 when they released their latest album.  (Click for reviews of the Cranes concert in 2008 and the review of their latest self-titled album Cranes).

The concert was at the Luminaire in Kilburn which is an okay venue but they obviously haven’t heard of the credit crunch or current financial crisis.  The cost of one lager shandy (only half a pint of lager in that plus lemonade!) and a Red Bull was £6!!  There was nowhere to sit in the venue and huge pillars everywhere blocking the view of the stage so I can definitely say that the venue didn’t warrant the prices of the drinks.  Or I should say drink – we decided not to buy more after the first round.

 

Please excuse my terrible photos!  I’m often able to get great results with my little point-and-shoot camera but last night was not one of those occasions!  In fact, the only usable photos of Cranes were taken by Stephen!!!  :(  Unfortunately, I was afflicted by terrible photography at last year’s concert too!

The support group was called worriedaboutsatan, a wonderful minimalist electronic duo from Leeds.  I really enjoyed their show and bought two of their CDs.  Their show was interesting as they had a full backing film to go along with the music.  They were good!

Cranes’ sound can best be described as belonging to the shoegazing or dream pop genres.  The lead singer Alison Shaw has a dreamy, girl-like voice and their music is moving and melancholic.  I really love their music.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this concert as much as I enjoyed the others.  They had a couple of problems with the sound at their last concert which seemed to happen again at this concert.  The mic, bass and guitars seemed too loud and the sound just wasn’t harmonious.  There was also something wrong with the amplifier or something, as there were a couple of grinding, screeching noises towards the end of the concert.  The set list was also disappointing.  They played most of their sedate, quiet songs which is fine if it is a seated concert but not nice for a whole evening if it is a standing concert.

So in the end, it was a little disappointing which I guess is also okay.  You can’t always go to absolutely brilliant concerts!  Which reminds me, I still need to post about the Pixies and Shpongle concerts in October!

Concert: Mika at Roundhouse

Last Friday night I did something I never would have thought I’d do - I went to a Mika concert. See, I like a lot of music but I am very particular about what I do and don’t like. The biggest representation on my iPod is in the genres Indie Rock, Alternative and Progressive Trance. I don’t usually listen to mainstream run of the mill pop. Stephen likes Mika though and so I entered online at Evening Standard for free tickets and won a pair.

It was the last performance of the iTunes Live Festival at the Roundhouse in Camden that had featured the likes of Kasabian, Placebo and Franz Ferdinand (all bands that I have seen in concert and would sell my husband my soul to see again live). It was the second time I’ve been to Roundhouse – the first was to see Shpongle last year. We’re going to see Shpongle again this year at the Roundhouse for their Halloween gig and I can't wait.

So, what did Little Miss Music Snob think of the wildly eccentric and theatrical Mika? I loved him. I thought he was absolutely great and I would even buy his new album (with the ten free iTunes downloads I got with the ticket!)

The concert was being recorded live and broadcast on ITV and he wasn’t meant to swear (apparently the fine for swearing on prime time TV is £10,000 per word but I can’t find any links). Well, after his first honest mistake, he threw all caution to the wind and seemed quite happy to swear away whatever fee they were paying him for performing that night. I think broadcasters should get over themselves anyway – it hasn’t got any better since they tried to prevent Jim Morrison from saying “higher” on television. While I wouldn’t usually advocate foul language, it has to be said that his original songs have swearing so what did they expect?

Mika is an excellent and entertaining live performer and he really is talented. He has an excellent voice and he absolutely engages the crowd. It is so refreshing to see a performer sing his heart out live on stage when so many acts just go through the motions.

Throughout the show there were hands in the air, lots of glitter and streamers, stars and lots and lots of love. It was an uplifting and enjoyable show and I would recommend to anybody that they go see a Mika show at least once. Who knows, you might have fun despite yourself and land up bouncing up and down and dancing and singing. Or is that just me?

Concert: Shpongle

On 31st October my brother and I went to a Halloween party with a difference.  We went to Roundhouse in Camden to see Chris's favourite band Shpongle perform a rare live concert in London.  Shpongle are an English band made up of Raja Ram and Simon Posford and yet this was their first full UK gig ever!!!  They are extremely popular and the best way I can describe their music is psytrance or goa trance. So instead of witches and wizards, there was lots of neon and bright lights and lasers.  There were also lots of people dressed up for a masked ball, looking like pre-French Revolutionary courtiers.  Not surprising when you see this back stage photo of Simon and Raja:

 
Photo courtesy of Shpongle's MySpace

The gig was absolutely amazing. It was really lively, colourful, energetic and psychedelic and we enjoyed every minute of it. We even managed to gain a little on the crowd and get closer to the stage.

We took this short video of the song "Around the World in a Tea Daze".  As you can imagine, with the lack of proper light, interspersed with a fantastic laser light show, it was near impossible to get any decent photographs.  So luckily we have this little video and a couple of photos but mostly we have the memories of an excellent night out and Chris will be able to tell his grandchildren he saw Shpongle perform live.

These are the only partly salvageable photos we did manage to take: