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I don't usually go to gigs. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that either I don't get organised in time to buy tickets or I can't find anyone who appreciates my unusual taste in music to go with me. However, when I read in Time Out that Republica were re-forming to play some live dates and that tickets for the London date cost just £12.50 I knew I had to attend whatever it took. Fortunately, it didn't take much effort at all. My ex-housemate from uni happily agreed to accompany me despite the fact that she only knew their two biggest hits 'Ready to Go' and 'Drop Dead Gorgeous'. There is some history to this. I've loved Republica since their heyday in the mid 1990s and as a teenager I wanted to be Saffron their lead singer. This was during the Britpop era and women in 'proper' bands tended to wear tracksuits and be quite tomboyish. The only vaguely glamourous women in the music scene were the likes of the Spice Girls who were just annoying. Saffron was different. She was punky and looked totally different to anyone else out there with her black and red hair. Just to make her even more cool in my teenage eyes she later sang backing vocals on, my all time favourite band, The Prodigy's cover of L7's 'Fuel my Fire'. On top of that Republica's songs weren't all about love. I generally hate love songs so that's always a big draw for me. I got a copy of their first album (imaginatively titled 'Republica') shortly after it was released in 1996 and Holly became one of my favourite tracks of all time. It also fast became one of my favourite albums to sing (well, squark!) along to. Once, when I was living in halls of residence, I was home alone and decided to indulge in some very loud squarking along. Needless to say my flatmate arrived home and caught me in the act. As a result, she was the obvious choice to invite along. Also, nobody else I mentioned it to could remember who Republica were, but we won't worry about that.
So last Wednesday, after work we set out for an evening of gig attendance. The venue for the gig was the O2 Academy in Islington. With my limited experience of gig attendance, I hadn't been there before and didn't know what to expect but LB advised that it was quite a good venue so I went with high hopes. The evening didn't start particularly well. I had a map but we still struggled to find the venue. The website hadn't pointed out that it was in the middle of a shopping centre and we walked around it a couple of times without noticing the doorway at all. When we'd found our way in we headed to the ladies and passed a girl telling her friends that her 22 year old boyfriend obviously hadn't heard of Republica but his dad was a fan. That made us feel ancient. The gig was to taking place in the smaller room which only held around 250 people. We were suprised that it was so small. The last gig my friend had seen was a Wembley Stadium! The crowd was pretty diverse ranging from groups of punky girls of our around our age, to couples, to groups of bald late 30s men in bomber jackets (old ravers I guess) to a single bloke in a suit carrying a briefcase! When we entered the room at just after 7.30pm it was fairly empty. Instruments were set up on stage and up to date indie/rock music was being played in the background. We got a pint and waited. As time went on the room filled up a bit and the support act took to the stage. This consisted of two middle aged men playing keyboard and guitar and singing along to a dancey backing track. Their music was incredibly repetative and annoying (and I'm saying that as a long time dance music fan). They were so memorable that I've forgotten their name already. I felt a bit sorry for them as most of the crowd just stood totally still gazing at them. It seemed like a very odd choice of support act for a punk dance band. They played for an hour and then went off. We went to get another pint while the techs set up for the main event.
Republica took to the stage at about 9.30pm. Saffron (who is now 42) still looks really striking with her red and black hair complemented by a beautiful long, red Chinese style dress. I'm sure her male fans weren't at all disappointed. The rest of the band (all men) looked very middle-aged. They played all their best known songs, a couple of album tracks and a new track. Interestingly quite a lot of the music for the tracks from the first album was supplied by a backing track and the band played over the top. Much like the way The Prodigy play live. The newer tracks didn't have backing tracks - I guess they were moving away from sample and effects based dancy music by their second album. I really enjoyed it and was pleased to finally get my moment of singing along to a live performance. They played 'Holly' which they introduced as being a special request (obviously I'm not the only one who's a fan of that one) but they played it without the backing track so it sounded a bit odd. Saffron's voice was really powerful and she really knows how to work a crowd. This was despite the fact that when she spoke between tracks it was clear that her voice was going. I think my friend was a bit bemused by the whole thing, but she said she enjoyed herself so that's OK. It finished at 10.30pm (including a rather rudimentary encore during which they played 'Ready to Go' for the second time) and I was home by 11.30pm. Perfect.
I hope to go to more gigs in the future as I find live music really uplifting. The next one will be an amateur band night in Camden in a couple of weeks time. I'm a bit nervous about that as I've never been to Camden before (I don't think attending a meeting at a hotel in Swiss Cottage counts) and I'm afraid I'll look pitifully untrendy. Will be asking my much trendier sister for outfit advice when I see her tomorrow.
Today, I had my hair cut and trawled the Kingston shops for new boots. Unfortunately, most of the boots in the shops this year are flat biker style boots and I'm looking for smart heeled knee high boots for work. Once again I seem to be searching for something which isn't available anywhere. Oh well.
This evening I watched my latest LoveFilm DVD 'Valentines Day' which I actually quite liked. I'm not much of a rom-com person but this one was light hearted and not too schmaltzy. I'd recommend it as good easy to watch Saturday evening entertainment. Certainly better than watching the stupid X-Factor.
Tomorrow, we're celebrating my dad's retirement (he retired on Wednesday). I'll finish my holiday write up another time.
So last Wednesday, after work we set out for an evening of gig attendance. The venue for the gig was the O2 Academy in Islington. With my limited experience of gig attendance, I hadn't been there before and didn't know what to expect but LB advised that it was quite a good venue so I went with high hopes. The evening didn't start particularly well. I had a map but we still struggled to find the venue. The website hadn't pointed out that it was in the middle of a shopping centre and we walked around it a couple of times without noticing the doorway at all. When we'd found our way in we headed to the ladies and passed a girl telling her friends that her 22 year old boyfriend obviously hadn't heard of Republica but his dad was a fan. That made us feel ancient. The gig was to taking place in the smaller room which only held around 250 people. We were suprised that it was so small. The last gig my friend had seen was a Wembley Stadium! The crowd was pretty diverse ranging from groups of punky girls of our around our age, to couples, to groups of bald late 30s men in bomber jackets (old ravers I guess) to a single bloke in a suit carrying a briefcase! When we entered the room at just after 7.30pm it was fairly empty. Instruments were set up on stage and up to date indie/rock music was being played in the background. We got a pint and waited. As time went on the room filled up a bit and the support act took to the stage. This consisted of two middle aged men playing keyboard and guitar and singing along to a dancey backing track. Their music was incredibly repetative and annoying (and I'm saying that as a long time dance music fan). They were so memorable that I've forgotten their name already. I felt a bit sorry for them as most of the crowd just stood totally still gazing at them. It seemed like a very odd choice of support act for a punk dance band. They played for an hour and then went off. We went to get another pint while the techs set up for the main event.
Republica took to the stage at about 9.30pm. Saffron (who is now 42) still looks really striking with her red and black hair complemented by a beautiful long, red Chinese style dress. I'm sure her male fans weren't at all disappointed. The rest of the band (all men) looked very middle-aged. They played all their best known songs, a couple of album tracks and a new track. Interestingly quite a lot of the music for the tracks from the first album was supplied by a backing track and the band played over the top. Much like the way The Prodigy play live. The newer tracks didn't have backing tracks - I guess they were moving away from sample and effects based dancy music by their second album. I really enjoyed it and was pleased to finally get my moment of singing along to a live performance. They played 'Holly' which they introduced as being a special request (obviously I'm not the only one who's a fan of that one) but they played it without the backing track so it sounded a bit odd. Saffron's voice was really powerful and she really knows how to work a crowd. This was despite the fact that when she spoke between tracks it was clear that her voice was going. I think my friend was a bit bemused by the whole thing, but she said she enjoyed herself so that's OK. It finished at 10.30pm (including a rather rudimentary encore during which they played 'Ready to Go' for the second time) and I was home by 11.30pm. Perfect.
I hope to go to more gigs in the future as I find live music really uplifting. The next one will be an amateur band night in Camden in a couple of weeks time. I'm a bit nervous about that as I've never been to Camden before (I don't think attending a meeting at a hotel in Swiss Cottage counts) and I'm afraid I'll look pitifully untrendy. Will be asking my much trendier sister for outfit advice when I see her tomorrow.
Today, I had my hair cut and trawled the Kingston shops for new boots. Unfortunately, most of the boots in the shops this year are flat biker style boots and I'm looking for smart heeled knee high boots for work. Once again I seem to be searching for something which isn't available anywhere. Oh well.
This evening I watched my latest LoveFilm DVD 'Valentines Day' which I actually quite liked. I'm not much of a rom-com person but this one was light hearted and not too schmaltzy. I'd recommend it as good easy to watch Saturday evening entertainment. Certainly better than watching the stupid X-Factor.
Tomorrow, we're celebrating my dad's retirement (he retired on Wednesday). I'll finish my holiday write up another time.
