Io Echo and La Roux at The Troubadour, Friday 24 July 2009
British pop sensation La Roux played the West Coast, complete with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. They came, they saw, they brought techs, the knocked the roof off. Helping them along the way was rising rock sensation Io Echo. La Roux is still mostly unknown stateside, but that doesn't stop a small venue like the Troubadour from selling out well in advanced-though that might be due to La Roux's massive internet following. The internet following cut off a lot of Io Echo's core local fanbase, and made the crowd waiting for the show interesting. To borrow a crass friend's preferred voice: The punters were all smelly twats addicted to the interwebs, stalking Elly Jackson over the tubes because they feel they discovered her simply because they check BBC News. In short, they reminded me of me: so I hated them for it. As start time approached, a more varied crowd arrived, and the Industry's reserved section filled up.
Io Echo's fog machine started around ten o'clock, so they took the stage around quarter past, after they down the required pre-show shot of bourbon. They started off with the slow-building Severance, giving the audience a taste of the energetic rock coming at them through the pea soup thick fog. With Enter To Exit, Io began her zombie-like dancing around the stage. Leopold Ross, as always, burned up the guitar. After I'm On Fire, Io rallied up the crowd by thanking La Roux and dedicating their Beatles cover to her: I Want You. Next they jump-start with the new hit Doorway (featured on a Sprint Palm-Pre commercial). The crowd finally gets into the swing of it, though Io's impromptu dancing with the other band members didn't work half as well as her dancing with Ross. For the finale, green backlights pierced through the fog and set the mood for Addicted, so far their most well known single. By finishing with a flourish, Io Echo won over yet another crowd who hadn't heard them.
La Roux's butch techs swoop in and set up efficiently. They brought their own mixer, complete with his own isolation headset. Either they heard about Ladyhawke's FUBARed sound at the Troubadour in March, or they've played so many low-rent gigs in the past year they've learned to prepare for anything. Taking a cue from the Noisettes, Tigerlily kicks into action with a stage devoid of people. The band fills in as Elly Jackson sings her way down the stairs to the stage, and they came out ready to play. They blow through a ten song set-list, barely stopping to introduce them as they go. Jackson's get up is decidedly more androgynous than the night before on Jimmy Kimmel: dark jeans with rolled up legs and a white jacket complete with the modern equivalent of shoulder pads, but she still rocked the cameo necklace and the stiff red hair. She introduced I'm Not Your Toy as her favourite, even if it was a daft thing to do. Well, no worries on this end, it's a solid song and possibly the strongest on the album, definitely some of the best lyrics. A bit confusing as to why it's not on any list of impending singles. The only breather she gave herself and the band was after As If By Magic, which she started with a dropped mic and a self-conscious brush off to the audience. In order to give the band and herself a breather, she tried getting the audience to clap in time, which wound up sounding like the traditional "get on stage already" clapping before a show. La Roux quickly picked up the next song, Colourless Colour, and flew into In For the Kill, finally taking a moment to introduce the band: Mikey, Niki (keys) and Willy-real name William (drums). Her final song was the newly released single, Bulletproof, and those who weren't already hopping in their shoes went wild and gave La Roux a great send off.
Io Echo's fog machine started around ten o'clock, so they took the stage around quarter past, after they down the required pre-show shot of bourbon. They started off with the slow-building Severance, giving the audience a taste of the energetic rock coming at them through the pea soup thick fog. With Enter To Exit, Io began her zombie-like dancing around the stage. Leopold Ross, as always, burned up the guitar. After I'm On Fire, Io rallied up the crowd by thanking La Roux and dedicating their Beatles cover to her: I Want You. Next they jump-start with the new hit Doorway (featured on a Sprint Palm-Pre commercial). The crowd finally gets into the swing of it, though Io's impromptu dancing with the other band members didn't work half as well as her dancing with Ross. For the finale, green backlights pierced through the fog and set the mood for Addicted, so far their most well known single. By finishing with a flourish, Io Echo won over yet another crowd who hadn't heard them.
La Roux's butch techs swoop in and set up efficiently. They brought their own mixer, complete with his own isolation headset. Either they heard about Ladyhawke's FUBARed sound at the Troubadour in March, or they've played so many low-rent gigs in the past year they've learned to prepare for anything. Taking a cue from the Noisettes, Tigerlily kicks into action with a stage devoid of people. The band fills in as Elly Jackson sings her way down the stairs to the stage, and they came out ready to play. They blow through a ten song set-list, barely stopping to introduce them as they go. Jackson's get up is decidedly more androgynous than the night before on Jimmy Kimmel: dark jeans with rolled up legs and a white jacket complete with the modern equivalent of shoulder pads, but she still rocked the cameo necklace and the stiff red hair. She introduced I'm Not Your Toy as her favourite, even if it was a daft thing to do. Well, no worries on this end, it's a solid song and possibly the strongest on the album, definitely some of the best lyrics. A bit confusing as to why it's not on any list of impending singles. The only breather she gave herself and the band was after As If By Magic, which she started with a dropped mic and a self-conscious brush off to the audience. In order to give the band and herself a breather, she tried getting the audience to clap in time, which wound up sounding like the traditional "get on stage already" clapping before a show. La Roux quickly picked up the next song, Colourless Colour, and flew into In For the Kill, finally taking a moment to introduce the band: Mikey, Niki (keys) and Willy-real name William (drums). Her final song was the newly released single, Bulletproof, and those who weren't already hopping in their shoes went wild and gave La Roux a great send off.