Hello all!
Sorry its been ages since my last post, I feel bad for putting this off. But after feeling thoroughly outdone by my companion over at http://mikesysblog.blogspot.com, I feel it necesary to remain competitive in todays harsh economic climate.

Today was quite possible one of the most terrible days of all time. The day started of good, with a AIDS-licous tutorial, which we must have covered about 10 times allready, but howanever, it was interesting and enlightening. Then was art, which has to be one of the most enjoyable lessons; theres not many where you can sit there and draw to your hearts content for an hour and five minutes. But after that, the imminent shitstorm began.

It was the time of our bullshitacular war poetry timed essay mock. The only time where I spend fourty five minutes getting a hand cramp without a reasonable goal in sight. Well, I'd love to sit here and bore you about the way in which Owen and Sassoon protest against the death of soldiers in war in the poems, "Anthem for the Doomed Youth" and "Suicide in the Trenches", but I have some serious unfinished business to get down to.

It has been requested of me that I write a review of a White Lies gig I went to a couple of weeks ago at the Shepards Bush Empire. Said person would like to pikey this review, thus exploiting me to get closer to her dreams of being some kind of musical journalist person, so I would highly recommend beating the crap out of said person if you see this on their site, however, here goes...

"Sexy" Charlie

The train journey to Shepards Bush was hardly anything interesting, however, numerous interesting things were about to happen. Not least, quite possible the most stereotypical incident I have ever witnessed. After arguing with my sister and her friend about wether to go to the venue now or later, we decided to split out ways, with her and her friend being slightly too obsessed, and my friend and I being slightly too hungry. We made our food choice, the local KFC, however, as we were entering we were stopped by a man, who then proceeded to shout at us, screaming: "Please get me a bargain bucket!!! Please! I dont even care, it can be a snack box, just get me some chicken!". Obviously we were taken by suprise, but coolly replied no, as we were pushed for money ourselves, and didnt know this man at all. Well, with this slightly humorous situation behind us, we bought our food and went downstairs, where I had to stay focused on my food and try not to listen to the woman next to us talking about rather sensitive topics, or "DUTTEH" as she described it, many a time... in gory... graphic detail.

So, after filling ourselves up we went to the queue and queued for just over an hour. As soon as I got in I was shocked at how small and intimate the venue was, and how few people were in there. With a nice spot at the barrier calling me over, I dashed to it, and we all managed to get right to the front, with room enough to be comfortable!

The first support act was called "Active Child", or something like that. We talked to the frontman breifly afterwards, following one of my fellow gig goers shouting, "WHAT'S YOUR NAME???". He looked strangely like a ginger Eminem, fit with the US accent. Which also meant we couldnt understand what he was saying. Nonetheless, we nodded and smiled politely, just incase they do get famous and we can say we talked to them!

Ginger Eminem breaking down

Their music was hardly spectacular, but I couldnt help but get drawn into the hypnotic beats and almost celestial synths, with intricate loops and bass, and even a harp! But I was here for the White Lies, not a chill out session, so I dont reallty think they were appreciated too much, other than for laughing at his ridiculous dancing. He made it look as if it hurt to touch his keyboard, crouching to the floor and kicking about as he played. However, in ridiculousness he could not top the next support: Crocodiles.

Someone behind us took that, and afterwards made the rather humorous comment, "They look like more than friends"

Ill be honest with you, Im not completely sure what Im talking about, but presumably this band was strongly influenced by some kind of punk music. The prickish sunglasses-wearing-indoors, redunkudunkulous skinny jeans, and even spitting on the stage gave it away.  The lyrics were completely inaudible, other than a constant whining, and an occasional dog-esque "EIIY"ing. Well, I was glad when they were over, to say the least.

"Now Im poised in an awkward stance..."

From HMV

Finally, the White Lies came on. The first two songs almost acted as a warm up, getting everyone into the feel of the concert, and introducing us to the flavour of the evening. There were all the classics, "Farewell to the Fairground", "Death" and even the suprising but brilliant, "E.S.T". Not only this, but some brilliant new album tracks from "Ritual", and some older gems from "To Lose My Life". I was surprised at how well "Power and Glory" was converted into an excellent live track, which really got the crowd going, and everyone dancing. This was the penultimate song, followed by their lead single, "Bigger Than Us".

Yes, we were that close!

The set list!

Even after the astounding gig had ended, the good times just kept on rolling. Kathleen the Italo-pikey managed to grab a setlist, and Cein caught a drumstick, although he kindly donated this to a neighbouring fan, as he had one from their HMV concert a few weeks previously. All in all, it was a surprisingly good concert, something I expected to be good, but not that good, from a band as relatively unknown as White Lies. They managed to come out with some hard hitting live songs, something I didnt expect from them, purely due to their lyrical and musical style, but I would seriously reccomend checking these out whilst the tickets are still cheap!

p.s. I didnt actually take any of these photos! (I think)

- Colm.