crazybobbles

Man oh man what an amazing evening. Originally I was going to get some rest after two gigs in a row but I’m simply too pumped and buzz to goto sleep so I decided to go fix my internet (involved using the spare router and doing some ninja work), upload my photos and blog about this amazing event before I goto bed. I’m From Barcelona are a swedish pop / rock band containing 30 band members (just picture the number mass of polyphonic spree but without the white robes and the mind games). Their lyrics are about waking up late for work/school to randomly building secret tree houses. I was recommended this gig and after tonight I am confident to recommend the gig to anyone and promise they’ll have all the fun in the world.

Anyway, let’s keep this nice and snappy because the longer I stay up the most horrific it’s going to be for tomorrow (man wish I didn’t need to force myself in doing so much typing but since so many people I knew were at the gig, they’d most likely appreciate a quick turn around in reviews (hopefully )). We arrive at Scala, the only impediment was that Kings Cross was overcrowded so the tube suddenly skipped Kings Cross station and Euston Square, I was a bit confused at first but eventually found out about the overcrowding situation forcing them to close up the station. I took a bus to the venue which wasn’t bad at all (it’s always fun learning how to cope with situation changes and quickly finding an alternative route to your destination, except when it’s Wood Green *grovels*).

Soko: singing about being pregnant!

Once there I met up with Anika, Adam and John, who were surprisingly (surprisingly?) in front hehe. I had a quick chat with them whilst subtly scaring Anika about camera smuggling and how bad security were (hehe sorry, granted I didn’t really know what to expect from Scala again, I was just making things up as I go along…. i think (not sure, hmmm). I went to the back of the queue because chances are, security will be pretty pumped in bag searches so having your bag searched first isn’t a good idea. Alexandra Palace proved that if you give them enough time, they go slack. I didn’t use the Shepherds Bush technique in smuggling the camera and stuck to he original and basic smuggling trick, it worked everytime at Scala so it should work. Which it did (woot). The guy did take a thorough look in my bag as well as pat me about to check if I had anything hidden. We later on learned that some folks did get their camera taken away and tagged into cloakroom. Shame.

Once in the venue I met up with the rest again who kindly reserved me a place on the left. Anika was able to smuggle her camera whichi meant she could take some ace shots. Adam was extremely pumped about the gig, he even brought a kazoo to the gig! We began hearing more stories about how amazing the gig was from John and Adam, not long after came the support band, Soko.

SoKo playing the drums and guitar with a tiger on her!

Soko was a french friuitcake and a half, she was wonderfully quirky and giggled like a prepubescenet japanese schoolgirl wearing a pikachu outfit (bet you’re imagining it now aren’t you). Her music had a certain cheekiness that reminded me of good old Regina Spektor (mmm little baby jesus). Her first song, I think I’m pregnant, was about pregnancy but later in the song, it turns out it was just a fart! Other songs ranged from being a tiger, being French, being a vegetable (twas a song for vegans) to I will never love you more; comparisons with significant others (comparisons made are like drummers from flaming lips).

At certain points of the song she’s just stop to crack and laugh, at others she’d check her mobile (I always wondered about muscians and their lack of mobile phones, turns out some do carry them on stage), choke a wee bit (she was ill bless), and giggle some more. The performance was lighthearted and chirpy, she managed to get a guy called “Ben” on stage who was supposed to do drums, but the Ben that came up on stage wasn’t the drummer Ben (that was fun, but yeah, probably had to be there to get it).

Soko and folks from I'm from Barcelona singing about cats

Near the end she invited some members of “I’m From barcelona” and had them perform for a few songs. I was impressed and thoroughly entertained for the performance. I was also able to speak to someone new during the gig; apparently she saw me photolising at Okkervil River live @ Borderline and also happened to be at the Shepherds Bush gig, we instantly got talking about gigs and whatnot, I once again was able to offload more moo mini cards so yay! It’s fun to meet new people

After some waiting, I’m From Barcelona appears on stage preparing up the place, at one point, the singer Emanuel Lundgren came up on stage with his bushy beard setting up his mic and whatnot, he was happy to start conversing with the crowd, he told us we could change the setlist if we wanted to! Was quite a funny offer but I bet if we asked to have something on there we’d actually get it, he was friendly and “down to earth” (hate cliché words, can people stop overusing it please!). I was able to prep myself up with a Kazoo which I picked up from Soko’s other band member . Hmm, think that’s the prepping over, on with the show!

It was funny seeing so many muscians crammed into one spot, there were quite a lot of mics available so it felt like a proper singalong. I’m From Barcelona were rediculously charming and polite. They kicked off with an upbeat intro and then played Sufur, Paper Planes, Andy and then Headphones. This Boy was quite a hilarious track because they made the boys go “and there’s always gonna be this little boy inside of me” and the girls go… you know, the girl part (too lazy to type). Emanuel even got his mic up to the fans for them to sing (oh how risky it was to be front row, Adam, Anika and John had a go at singing the song which was fun ).

A lot of bouncing and arm waving was involved, but it only started to really kick off when they played Mingus. Red confetti and balloons were offloaded and instantly it became a partae!! Enough descripions, here’s a video of them playing “Oversleeping” and “We’re From barcelona“:

You’ll have to excuse the shakyness of the video since I was dancing like crazy at the same time, at one point Emanuel poses for the camera too Suddenly all the latter songs became fun and danceable (not that they weren’t already, but now it’s like santa on acid, getting laid, on xmas day). The rest of the show became an all singing all dancing fest where everyone let loose, sang with Emanuel (I had the mic at one point and was singing with John and Adam haha), and start unneccessary conffetti wars with random girls who randomly got to the front of the stage. The band made us feel extremely comfortable and teamlike, telling us that they’re only supporting us ad just being super extra nice.

Ballooooon!

They “finished” with Barcelona Loves You and came back for some encore action. The next song was written by Soko and Emanuel which they did a duet on, it was one of those lighter or glowstick waving moments I must say, hopefully the photo below will explain it more.

Confetti fest!

After that we ended with Treehouse, Ophelia and Rufus. Tree House was definitely the best song out of the encore Adam and John actually taught us a bit about the Tree House dance which was funny. I believe the interval before the encore involved a lot of confetti fights once again (I made sure it went right in their face and other places haha :$) I believe at one point I even gave the girl I was at war with a wedgie (oh yes, how mature am i!) All of this was kindly retaliated though so that’s fair. I’m blaming the band for my childish behaviour, the entire show was so lighthearted and fun. People were relaxed and let loose to do whatever they want (ie give wedges and throw shit loads of confetti around the place). I probably took it a bit too far haha! If you’re reading this I do sincerely apologise *tips bonnet of doom*. Speaking of bonnet tipping, the band gave us a curtain call esque bow before exiting the stage.

I'm from Barcelona taking a bow, you can see that I clearly need a wider lens to include EVERYONE!

No stage invasion was involved sadly (I was looking forward to that since it happened previously) but we were able to shake Emanuel’s hand and tell him a job well done. With the band gone we made use of the remaining confetti on the floor and did more random fights. I had my bag / pockets stuffed with confetti by others as well as being painfully revenge attacked by everyone (hehe I was starting with everyone ). Once that was over we took off for home! THE END!

Photolising was fun, the saxamaphone player kept posing for the camera which was cute, i missed out in most of the confetti shots because I was in filming mode then I’m feeling so happy that I was able to see them play, they’ll definitely come as one of the top shows I’ve seen this year! It was just so exhilirating and fun! So yeah, that’s about it, now it’s 5am and I’m so going to regret it the next morning with only 2.5 hours to sleep!