We really are "down with the kids" round at Marshside Acres you know. We recently spent a couple of days up in London to do a bit of gig-going. Just to prove what all-round culture-vultures we are, we took in the Pre Raphaelite exhibition at the Tate too. I knew you'd be impressed.
Grizzly Bear were on at the Brixton Academy. This is an old cinema and is a great venue. Although it's one of the biggest around, excluding the enormodome places like the horrid O2 (Marshside blogs passim), it somehow has an intimate vibe about it. You can choose to stand or opt for unreserved seating - we went for the latter this time round: our legs and backs were still recovering from the Radiohead gig.
Grizzly Bear at Brixton: Chinese lanterns ahoy
Grizzly Bear are like a louder Fleet Foxes, i.e. it's still gentle stuff. This is a bit surprising given that they come from the urban jungle of Brooklyn. I guess New York has a different feel about it these days, compared to that which influenced bands like the Velvet Underground and the Ramones. The Bears had a great light show which utilised remote controlled Chinese lanterns which could be moved around into interesting patterns: a bit like a lower cost version of Radiohead's moving video screens. Speaking of which, another lower cost thing here compared to Radiohead was the ticket price which was less than half what we paid to see Thom and the boys. Weird, eh? They are much better than half as good. And the Brixton Academy is much better than twice as good as the O2.
Anyway, do check out the Bears from Brooklyn - they are excellent.
The following night, we ventured into what New Yorkers might call the "funky" neighbourhood of Shoreditch to see one of our great fave raves, Everything Everything. Now, Shoreditch is a fascinating place. Very much a part of the true East End of London, being adjacent to the City, it's not an area that you, gentle reader, would have wanted to dally in after dark a few years ago. I used to regularly drive through it sharpish en route between London and Kent. But now the blessing (or curse, depending on your point of view) of gentrification has spread here and it's getting very trendy. Somewhat bizarrely, a few yards up the old Roman road of which Shoreditch High Street forms a part, a kind of Little Saigon has been born, with Vietnamese restaurants everywhere. We had our dinner at one such. Our verdict: good but a bit too much like your common or garden Chinese.
The Village Undergound in funky downtown Shoreditch
So trendy has Shoreditch become that someone has created a new music venue under the railway arches. It's called the Village Underground and I recommend it, apart from the beer prices: £4 for a can of lager is too much and brings back unpleasant O2 memories. Mind you, at around £13, the ticket prices for this gig were such a bargain that we were able to drink the beer without choking.
We half expected to see Shaun Keavney, the host of the very wonderful BBC Radio 6 breakfast prog there as he's a well-known EE fan. Sure enough, I turned round and there he was right next to me. I am of course far too shy and retiring to dare speak to him but Mrs Marshside, fuelled by too many rash purchases of that overpriced beer, had no such inhibitions. Not sure if he ever gave us the "shout out" (as I believe you young people call it) on the radio the next morning: couldn't get BBC 6 Music in our hotel room (why not? It's on Freeview. Wake up Travelodge!)
The Everything Everything boys do their stuff: Chinese lanterns as yet unaffordable
The band were great. They've got a new album out in the new year and will be touring more extensively to promote it. Do go and see them.
One final observation from our visit to the Smoke. The transport system in London now is truly remarkable. Get this: we got a river boat from the Tate (that's near the Houses of Parliament) all the way to Greenwich. After a stroll round Greenwich, we walked through the pedestrian tunnel (a new one on me) under the river to the Isle of Dogs. We then got a Docklands Light Railway train from Island Gardens to Shadwell, where we changed to a London Overground train to Hoxton, right next to our Vietnamese restaurant and a short walk from the gig venue. After the gig, a brief train journey from Shoreditch High Street would have brought us to Whitechapel where a change to the metropolitan tube line would have whisked us back to our hotel near King's Cross. (But we pampered ourselves with a taxi for the home leg.) All of these journeys can be paid for with one of these Oyster card things. I don't know quite why I should be so impressed with this as London has always had a pretty good transport network but it's the way it's now integrated that makes it so easy to use. That and the Oyster card.
So there you have it. Plugs for Grizzly Bear, Everything Everything, the Brixton Academy, the Village Underground, BBC Radio 6 Music and Transport for London. If these search engines are any good, the visitor numbers to this blog will go through the roof!
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