Midlake @ Sheperd's Bush Empire, London

I have written about Midlake here and here
and you don't have to click on any of these links if you don't want to ;)

So, I went to see the band who won my last year's favourite-record-award for the second time. I thought the fact that they were in the same city as me at the same time was more than coincidence this time. Apart from that I had always wanted to go to the Sheperd's Bush Empire. There was a time in my life when I did not go to gigs (too much money spent on dope), so I would hang around with my friends watching live dvds endlessly. It became sort of a running gag after a while that all these artists we liked released dvds of gigs shot there. The repetition of shots from inside, all these amazing artists I "saw" and the dope made me really really wanna go there for once.

And the venue was perfect for that gig, for that night. We had seating tickets on the balcony. We had been hurrying around all day, travelling from Manchester to London, collecting keys, dropping luggage, making small talk to people we did not know, missing busses...and no time to sit down and relax. Until the gig started.

The atmosphere was great. Midlake's music just sounds so much better in a place like this. Sheperd's Bush Empire is an old theater transformed into a gig venue. They could have performed without any PA at all, I bet we would still have heard every single note.

The music was more psychedelic this time, I felt. Sometimes, the band would literally bend over their keyboards and instruments, soo much into their music. No long breaks between songs this time (that was what made me feel disappointed after seeing them in Berlin last October). I could just sit down and let the music flow through me.

The venue was sold out, and it sold out about six weeks before the gig. Apparently, people in London are really into Midlake. And what an interesting audience it was. Most of them were in their thirties, possibly, but I sat next to an approx. 10 year old boy accompanied by his mum. He seemed to really like the music.

That's why I can't stop blogging about them. One day, I'm gonna convince you all... ;)