Entering the venue late enough to miss any support act (we were both unwell) we found ourselves promptly assembled amid fellow gig-goers at the bar (soft drinks only on account of aforementioned flu). Attempting to get a feel for Lily's typical fan is difficult - you'd expect to find this kind of broad spectrum of people at any urban bus stop, such was the variety of people here. Young children with parents, teenage goths and well, early thirties couples like us all waiting patiently to hear Ms Allen.
Taking the stage at 9pm in her trademark dress, belting out one of her hits 'LDN', Lily was initially drowned out by the talented 3-man brass section of her band. Soon remedied, her vocals, while not a feature so much as her lyrics, were strong and on occasion varied pleasantly in places from the album. A confident (and sometimes mouthy) artist, Lily gave a well-rehearsed performance punctuating it appropriately with obscenities, political commentary and mentions of how much she likes Manchester. Most of which done with a ciggie on the go. As predicted by Phil, a cover made it into the set (Heart of Glass) and some new songs that haven't yet been released... perhaps a second album being not so far away. If so, both unreleased songs promise a slightly more mature sound.
Lily's honesty on stage was refreshing - she made no bones about hiding the fact that her album was short and coyly apologised for filling the rest of the set - not that anyone minded. Her encore a strange one though - 2 covers (one from the Kaiser Chiefs who she immediatley rubbished and The Specials who she encouraged the younger fans to seek out) before she ended on a current single not doing so well commercially - 'Alfie'. Overall, great gig - shame that some yoofs felt the need to toss cups of beer into the crowd in front as if they were at a festival. Weird.
No comments:
Post a Comment