92/100 4 days before her album 'The Family Jewels' release, Marina And The Diamonds played The Other Rooms in Newcastle. The small room was packed with 'Diamonds' desperate to make it to the front and catch a glimpse of the eccentric frontwoman. Marina was supported by the atmospheric synth pop band 'Clock Opera' who, unlike most support bands really got the crowd going and left me wanting to go see what one of their own gigs would offer. Despite Clock Opera's impressive performance and the crowds obvious admiration for them, nothing could overshadow the act which we had all come to see.
The cheers rippled through the crowd as a large security man escorted a cloaked figure through the left of the crowd, dressed in a knitted gown complete with pig/sheep hood and a Planet Hollywood dress Marina Strode onto stage and kicked off with the punchy 'Girls'. The crowd were all up for the gig from the start which was mainly due to Marina's enthusiasm on stage. She managed to keep pitch perfect whilst jumping from one side of the stage to the other determined to please all sounds of the room. She rattled through 'Seventeen' and Outsider' before taking time to thank her 'Diamonds' for their support before showing she really meant it by performing the impeccable 'I Am Not A Robot'. More of her excellent album tracks followed with 'Oh No', 'Numb','Obsessions' and 'Rootless' all making the £9.50 seem more and more worth it. She Finished her show with three songs which i think will become many fans favourites, first was the new single 'Hollywood' to which she held up a fans banner reading 'Hollywood infected our brains' (very jealous i didn't think of that). the second track is one of my favourites on the album 'Shampain', it was instantly popular with the crowd who despite the album only being streamed that morning had clearly taken time learn all the words. She finished the show with the brilliant 'Mowgli's Road' which I'm sure left all the diamonds go home with a sense of satisfaction and a serious carving to go and listen to those family jewels once again.
This is my first review and it is a shambles. I don’t even know who I have reviewed.
Live Like Lions and The Beautiful Machine live at 'The End' bar in Newcastle was a gig no-one should have missed but despite that the crowd was relatively small, this however did not detract from an awesome evening of electro-indie. The Beautiful Machine were first on and did their best to get the small crowd going with some excellent tracks such as "Loneliness of the Long Distance Commuter" which reminds me of early Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Shiny Toy Guns. Live Like Lions were next on. I had already listened to quite a few of their tracks before i saw them and their live performance lived up to the energetic promise shown in the recorded tracks. The first track they played was "Cecile" and straight away they sounded like a band that could become one of the best new bands within the electro-indie genre. Their whole set was energetic and eventually they even got the small crowd up for it with the single "Tiger Eyes" which is my favourite song they played. Live Like Lions easily have the quality and live performance to emulate bands such as Friendly Fires or Klaxons who have become synonymous with this genre of music. Links to their Myspace pages are Below.
