Le Tigre, The Forum - Kentish Town
When you've been looking forward all year to seeing your favourite band in the world ever perform live, they can only disappoint you right? Wrong. Le Tigre were everything I'd hoped for - great sound, fantastic outfits, cute dance routines and they sang their hearts out.
The evening opened with support from Ana De Silva (used to be with The Raincoats and incidentally a friend of my partner's). Ana's music is an experimental folk-electro sound which more often than not presses the right buttons. Tonight she was unprepared and it showed a bit but she sounded good and got a mostly positive reception.
Next on up were Gravy Train!!! This band were nothing short of hilarious. With their old school, lo-fi beats they shouted about sex for 30 minutes (one duet which I later found out was entitled ""You Made Me Gay" clarified each other’s sexual orientations while performing a mock marriage). Enjoyable stuff and a great warm up act for
Le Tigre. The band came on stage with their customary matching outfits and opened with 'On the verge'. This was poignant considering their recent signing to a major record label Universal means that they really might be on the verge of commercial success. What I love about Le Tigre is the fact that they are multi-talented: each band member takes a turn to sing, they all swap instruments, and they have these great synchronised dance routines. JD in particular is great at working the audience. At one point she was berating the left side of the crowd for not dancing enough, promising to reward them with "more eye contact" if they tried harder. They went through all the songs I love best: viz, TKO, FYR, Hot Topic. Kathleen sang beautifully and looked amazing. I love this band for making feminism cool again.
If I sound like a overhyped adolescent here, that's because when it comes to le Tigre, I am!
The evening opened with support from Ana De Silva (used to be with The Raincoats and incidentally a friend of my partner's). Ana's music is an experimental folk-electro sound which more often than not presses the right buttons. Tonight she was unprepared and it showed a bit but she sounded good and got a mostly positive reception.
Next on up were Gravy Train!!! This band were nothing short of hilarious. With their old school, lo-fi beats they shouted about sex for 30 minutes (one duet which I later found out was entitled ""You Made Me Gay" clarified each other’s sexual orientations while performing a mock marriage). Enjoyable stuff and a great warm up act for
Le Tigre. The band came on stage with their customary matching outfits and opened with 'On the verge'. This was poignant considering their recent signing to a major record label Universal means that they really might be on the verge of commercial success. What I love about Le Tigre is the fact that they are multi-talented: each band member takes a turn to sing, they all swap instruments, and they have these great synchronised dance routines. JD in particular is great at working the audience. At one point she was berating the left side of the crowd for not dancing enough, promising to reward them with "more eye contact" if they tried harder. They went through all the songs I love best: viz, TKO, FYR, Hot Topic. Kathleen sang beautifully and looked amazing. I love this band for making feminism cool again.
If I sound like a overhyped adolescent here, that's because when it comes to le Tigre, I am!