Inspiration: Gigs
Created: Thu 16 Mar 2006 14:38
It's difficult not to fall in love with Jens Lekman from the moment he walks on stage. His aloof manner and silly between song banter endears him immediately to everyone in his audience, and he's cute as a button to boot. His songs aren't bad either. I hadn't made my way to the Central Club Hotel in years (after having frequented it many moons ago when it was the place to be for underage giggers like myself), so I was interested to check it out in its newish Grand Central incarnation. The venue is quite similar to how I remember it, but they're doing the dinner and show thing (like The Continental used to until it closed its doors), so the area closest to stage is all tables, and then there's standing room behind that, some of it being elevated. It's all quite civilised and actually lends itself well to a great view for many of the punters, though the fact that it's slightly L-shaped could mean bad news for a sold out show.
Despite the fact that Jens only played for just a little under an hour, the show was well worth the money. Jens seems to emit some kind of invisible wave that creates a jovial atmosphere, and you can't help but smile and enjoy the show. There's bound to be some laughter at the lyrics, and some appreciation of the simple orchestration of the songs. There's nothing too complex at play here, it's just good old fashioned fun. Here's a poem that Jens read in the middle of the show, written by a favourite of his whose name I unfortunately did not catch. Hopefully someone who comes across this will know his name and can let me know:
For sixpence, I whisper "You are beautiful"
For a shilling, I whisper "You are beautiful, despite certain unfortunate features"
For a florin, I call "What an interesting physiognomy you possess"
For five bob, "You are exceedingly ugly"
For ten, "Ewww"
And for a quid, "I love you"
It was interesting to discover that the crowd agreed with my choices for top Jens Lekman songs, as the cheering increased significantly at the beginning of You Are The Light (by which I travel into this and that), which is, I think we can all agree, quite a top song, and the obvious candidate, Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill, i.e. that song that Fi keeps playing on RRR. Citing illness as his reason for ending the show abruptly, Jens still graced the stage to sell and sign his wares, with help from the fine folk of Architecture in Helsinki and Ground Components who had formed his backing band for the show. Speaking of wares, I've got the second in my series of wallpapers: the Jens Lekman with band desktop wallpaper photo (800x600, about 150K).
Audience stereotype spotted: the incredibly chatty person. Most people at gigs tend to stick to themselves, but there's the occasional one who is only too happy to strike up a conversation with the closest person they can find who doesn't seem to be otherwise engaged. Catherine / Kathryn, if you're out there, thanks for chatting to me about everything from the mob mentality of people in the city to your opinion on the painting on the Grand Central wall. Whilst at times I was not convinced that you weren't simply doing it to try and steal my prime viewing position away from me, our stilted conversation continued on after the gig also, meaning there must have been a genuine urge to chat coming from you. Very enlightening.
There are currently 0 comments for this entry.
Add a comment
Commenting has been turned off because of my inability to cope with the ridiculous amount of spammage I was receiving. Sorry!
Last entry: If it ain't broke...
Next entry: Careful! Games fever is catching.
