This is a nice mess, I don’t feel so lonely…
and neither could I – as Shepherds Bush Empire was absolutely packed last night for Turin Brakes only date in London on their short UK tour. This was timed to coincide with their third album – Jackinabox – which was recently released – and reached number 5 in the charts.
Our seats weren’t superb – we were right up in the gods, in the most uncomfortable concert seats ever (like really narrow church pews)…but despite some technical difficulties, the sound was pretty good and the view was OK. Support was from Petra Jean Phillipson who played a dark bluesy set which never really got past the typically rude london crowd who just talked all the way through while she played. Then Turin Brakes – opening with tracks from the new album, they played a good one and three-quarter hour set, with a mixture of tracks from all three albums – all the crowd pleasers were in there: Feeling Oblivion, Underdog (Save Me) and Painkiller – all delivered with real feel and quality. So despite challenges from the venue seating, bad ticket planning, issues with sound and technology – Turin Brakes managed to deliver a top notch gig. Loved it death! Leave a comment if you went too and found this site!
Jun 14, 2005 @ 12:12:12
I was sat below you on Level 2 right at the front. The chairs weren’t too much of a problem because we leant forward on the padded ledge for most of the night, but the occasional urine waft was a bit much sometimes.
Felt sorry for Petra, Couldn’t hear any of the lyrics over the hubbub, and the way she held her guitar made my wrist ache just looking. The drummer was mesmerising; sat at a drum kit that was a size too small for him he was bopping his head away in a world of his own.
We really enjoyed the set; the way they perform songs live isn’t like their albums and they are visually very engaging – more than you’d expect for a couple of blokes with guitars.