 Well Expecting the doors to open when they’re
supposed to open is always nice, expecting no
queues at all at around 650, but no the doors
didn’t open till gone 7, and I don’t
look like your average Elle Goulding fan as one
of the mailing list people, you know the ones,
the people that annoy you and your friends by
trying to get you to sign up to their mailing
list, well a gay looking chap decided to point
out that I don’t look like a fan of EG,
and he was right too, tool!
First up was 4 piece Primary1, I'm not sure what
genre there in, but Live it sounded like 80s retro
electro synth pop!(is that even a genre?) Two
synth players, one doubles as a bass player, and
the vocalist also doubles as a trumpet player
and then there’s the drummer laying down
the simple beats with the rest laying there more
complex pieces over the top to create there pop
soundscape. The vocalist a strange mix of maybe
a tad Jason Donavon and a smidge of Bowie in there
as well, but he’s got a good voice, his
trumpet playing is nothing to elaborate as he
only chimes in with it in a few songs, but it
goes down well with the crowd and even gets requested
by the piss takers in the crowd. The crowd didn't
look too excited by what they were hearing, a
few on the front enjoyed it but there was a lot
of chatter in there set which I could hear from
the crowd. The crowd got a bit involved in the
last song, Who's there, in which the crowd was
asked to sing the song title in the chorus, some
did, and in the end the crowd they got a good
applause, but it felt like it was something the
crowd had to endure rather than enjoy, which is
a tad disheartening really as it wasn't too bad
of a set.
 Elle Goulding, the next big thing? I have a fair
idea as to which song the crowd really want to
hear, If I was her id have played it first and
then see how many 'fans' stick around for the
rest of the set as I've seen how fickle pop fans
can be! She opened here set with her acoustic
guitar on playing Lights, Every Time you Go and
This Love. her guitar playing is pretty good,
but you can’t really hear it, the mix is
a strange one tonight, her vocals don’t
seem too loud and there’s a echo effect
on them, which makes hearing her talk in between
songs really hard, in fact as I left the pit there
were shouts from the crowd that they couldn't
hear her, and it was true too. I enjoyed the guitar
playing of the guitar/bass/synth player, the drumming
is fairly decent but nothing to complex as anymore
doesn't work for the songs. I found tonight her
set sounded too much like her CD, it’s not
necessarily a bad thing for the fans but for me,
I find it a tad boring, as I want a live act to
mix it up a little, change arrangements while
still staying true to the essence of any song
that there playing, example set closer Starry
Eyed, the intro to that was just like on the CD,
with her vocals not being reproduced live, its
stuttered played backwards etc, right here they
could have done a different live intro which could
have been cool, but no it sounded like they stuck
the CD on for 10 seconds, that's just plain lazy
in my eyes! The encore opening song Wish I Stayed,
showed off her guitar playing a lot more and she’s
certainly got talent but again it sounded like
they could have just stuck the CD on, as it is
as it’s on the CD, annoying. Overall she’s
got a great voice and a fairly competent live
act going, but it seems like all this has been
thrust upon her and slightly rushed, not letting
the songs develop a live sound of their own, its
good but if people are gonna pay whatever they
did last night you got to give them more than
what’s on her CD or else there’s no
point in playing live, you might as well just
stay home and play the CD in venue.
Primary 1 3/5
Ellie Goulding 4/5
Review By Robert Lawrence
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