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Promoting their latest offering ‘Fab Four Suture’, a collection of already released six limited edition 7” , surprisingly Stereolab will only schedule one London show.
Tonight at Koko.
As expected the show is sold out.
What is unexpected is the disappointment I feel upon leaving the venue.
I am being the victim of a terrible, unfortunate set of circumstances.
It all starts with the unbearable heat. The kind of temperature where your sweat soaked clothes stick to your back, your hair melts into your scalp.
Then, from where I am standing towards the back, the sound quality is absolutely abysmal which is hard to accept for a venue of this size and stature.
Last but not least, there is the packed crowd. Mainly small gatherings of trendy twenty somethings, apparently discussing the stock market, glass in hand. |
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The crowd is so ‘chilled’ that unless you were in the first few rows at the front, you wouldn’t have known that the band was now on stage about to get started. Hardly any clapping, hardly any cheering...
One of the UK’s most influential bands of the last decade is about to present the audience with tracks from their newly released CD and no doubt delve into their sizeable, magical back catalogue.
Yet not many people turn to the stage or interrupt their conversations.
Despite my paying attention to the band I can’t tell which song the six piece has now launched into, but I can tell you what the loud, rude bitch behind me was wearing at her niece’s Christening.
A small group of football shirts wearing guys on my right hand side will apparently never holiday in Spain ever again!
Front woman Laeticia Sadier’s trademark dead pan vocals are indistinguishable and unable to rise above the incessant chatter and she doesn’t manage to command attention from almost half the people before her, for very long.
This is hell as I have inadvertently walked into a cocktail party with some great live music in the background.
I am expecting a tray of Ferrero Rochers to be passed around at any time now.
There is more misery to be had, as almost all the tracks tend to blend into one. All the musicians seem to be going through the motions rather than really enjoying themselves and singer/ writer Laeticia Sadier barely acknowledges the crowd. She also has the misfortune of wearing a kind of peach/ pink dress matching the backdrop!
I am disappointed that the weird, experimental electro-pop, complex krautrock Stereolab are best known for didn’t translate so well live tonight but the audience have played a big part in spoiling this long awaited outing for me by taking the ‘chilled out, background noise, ambience music’ theme too far.
Words: Florence ACHERYPictures: Paul STUART
www.stereolab.co.uk
www.myspace.com/stereolab |
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Stereolab
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