"kentish town, kentish town, yes, kentish town, kentish town, no."
a cancelled train was not a perfect start to the evening...... but after a diversion through basingstoke we managed to get to waterloo at about 5 past 7. SO, with about 20 minutes to get to kentish town, I was skeptical.
but the northern line worked it's magic and WE MADE IT IN TIME. PHEWPH.
the first few notes of 'sigh no more,' which Mumford & Sons opened the night with, had to be one of the most perfect things I've ever heard. not to sound cheesy, or anything.
The thing about this band is, as well as writing the most beautiful songs, they are all just so damn musically talented. Each of them switched instruments at least once during their set, and they all sang, something which really makes a band stand out, especially with the kind of harmonies that make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, like in that first line of their album's title track.
My only criticism of the set is that they didn't include awake my soul or dust bowl dance, which are two of my favourites from the album, but to be honest there isn't a weak song on it, so it was incredible nonetheless...
my friend kate yelled out her trademark phrase related to this band - 'MARCUS... I LOVE YOU' - during a quiet-ish moment.
They were so sweet and friendly on stage... it just felt really homely, like a really intimate gig, which is the kind of atmosphere I love.... yayyy for mumford.
Mr Hudson was the 'special guest' that we didn't know about beforehand.
Kate - supersleuth that she is - worked out who it was going to be during the wait after mumford and sons had gone offstage (much to the audience's dismay... more on that later).
This would have been quite an impressive feat on her part, had her method not been reading aloud "Mr Hudson," which was written on the drumkit in the middle of the stage, a few metres from where we were standing.
Now when I said the audience were 'dismayed' when Marcus, Ben, Winston and Ted left the stage, that was somewhat of an understatement... Although Mumford and Sons were supposed to be the support act of the night, it was clear that the majority of ticket-buyers were there mainly to see them. I'll admit that, although I actually like Paloma Faith and was interested to see who the special guest was, I was among this majority.....
This meant that, poor soul, it was not really Mr Hudson's gig. He has a great voice, it's true, and I like what I know of his music, but it must be pretty scary coming onto a stage in front of an audience who have moments before been chanting 'mumford...mumford...mumford'; gradually rising in volume.
However I reckon people warmed to it. We went in for the 'where's your library, HUH?' kind of comments, as it doesn't really seem fair to ditch your band just because Kanye West asks you to... For anyone who doesn't know, Mr Hudson was formerly known as 'Mr Hudson and the Library,' a band slightly more left wing on the music scene than he now is, but he got signed as a solo artist then got big with his duet with kanye west, 'supernova,' and, i guess, never looked back...
If anyone saw buzzcocks this week the jack whitehall had a go at him for it...
"because, you had a band, but you're not in it any more?"
"well, it's complicated..."
"so it was mr hudson and the library, right?"
"mm"
"so you play with them sometimes, but not, like, all the time?"
"yeah."
"so now it's kinda like a mobile library..?"
"yeah.."
"and also, as it's a library, if they give you any of that [talking hand gesture thingie] you can just be like 'shh, it's a library.' 'can we meet kanye west?' 'shh...' 'can we have some money?' 'shhhhhh.....' "
my transcript isn't great... maybe you should watch it for yourselves...
ANYWAY... he was good. in my opinion. But I still don't think it's fair that he ditched 'the library,' so we were protesting a little throughout his set, which i reckon he deserved.
We had to wait FOREVER for Paloma Faith. I was scared for her, because of the reaction Mr Hudson had got in comparison to that got by Mumford and Sons. But I worried for no reason, it seemed, because she got a much better reception. And she exceeded my expectations, truly. I saw her in the summer at a festival, but it was a really short set, she didn't get to shine as much as she did last night.
I think that it's something that comes from being an actress as well as a singer; Paloma has an awesome stage presence. She's really comfortable on stage, and she has an incredible incredible voice... Really soulful. It comes over even better live than it does recorded. I only have a few tracks from her album, but am considering getting a couple more now....
AMAZING EVENING
and this post was far too long, I apologise........
