White Lies at Wembley

Having survived the office party for another year, it was to Wembley I went to see my last gig of the year.

Actually the office party was a pretty tame affair. (I know what you are thinking. You would expect a group of pension lawyers to go pretty wild at a party wouldn't you? But no, not really. Best part was watching one of our partners flirting with both our cute Italian waitress AND the French waiter. He is such a metro sexual.) It was held at in painfully trendy Shoreditch at Beach Club Babylon, a rather nice venue, if not quite as Bohemian as it tries to pretend. http://www.beachblanket.co.uk/shoreditch/index.html

But back to Wembley on a bitterly cold night. Was great when they finally let us in only half an hour after the tickets said doors would open! This is, I should say Wembley Arena, not the stadium. A stadium gig in December would be too awful to contemplate.

Not a sell-out, competing with last shopping Saturday before Christmas and the final of Strictly Come Dancing, but more because White Lies are not (yet at least) that well known a band. But a decent enough crowd anyway.

It probably should tell me that I go to too many gigs as I had seen not only the headline act but both the supports before too. But then the bloke at the front I was standing next to had seen the whole lot 3 times on this tour in the last week. That's keen. I am not worthy. (But then he did have a beard.)

Anyway, first off were the Chevin. I had seen them supporting the Pigeon Detectives last month, and remain very impressed by them, although they looked a little lost on such a big stage.

The Duke Spirit I had actually gone to see as a headline act themselves a few years ago. Their formula of sexy blond singer backed by anonymous blokes pounding on guitars and drums behind has of course been successfully carried off before. She certainly has a powerful enough voice (needed to overcome the rock guitar backing), but its a little harsh to my tastes. And they have never come up with a memorable song to my ears. I feel if they were going to make it they would have done so by now.

So onto the main course, White Lies. Their portentous music is I am afraid very much my thing - following in a line of bands I have liked - Joy Division, Interpol, Editors. The style suits a stadium, and they did occupy the stage rather well. They have got to that pleasant stage (for a gig-going fan) of having completed that difficult second album, with no loss of quality from the first. So, unlike say the Vaccines who I had seen earlier  in the month who were fine but basically had to eke out all the material they had after only one album, White Lies could play a long set with everything sounding good.

 

And of course now headlining a big stadium, you can go with the pyrotechnics too. And the ticker-tape stuff at the end.

So yes, a much better way of spending an evening than watching Strictly Come Dancing. Call me old-fashioned, but I would rather watch a rock drummer drumming, than watching him do the Tango, however good Harry Judd may be at Latin American dancing. Horses for courses?