London Grammar – Spark Arena September 30, 2017
From the moment she stepped onto the stage, I was blown away by London Grammar’s Hannah Reid’s vocal prowess at the Spark Arena last night. Launching into an acapella rendition of Rooting For You she managed to display both vulnerability and vocal fortitude, dipping into unexpectedly husky registers as the spectre of a piano line and delay-pedal guitar begin to rise and swirl around her.
Its been four years between albums for Nottingham pop band London Grammar, who first came to international attention by way of their atmospheric post-club banger Hey Now. Their debut album If You Wait pocketed them an Ivor Novello award and embedded them in Spotify playlists worldwide.
Second albums are notoriously difficult, and London Grammar faced a similar predicament with Truth Is A Beautiful Thing, which they are currently touring. The album continues along the same thematic vein of disastrous break ups told in chilly posh-folk mannerisms and did not make for much of a live show.
Portishead, The XX, Florence and the Machine, hints of Tracey Chapman. All artists whose mark is clear in the sound of London Grammar, and you only need to listen to one song to hear their obvious impact-after all ethereal vocals set against glacial atmospheric soundscapes is nothing new. While few things are created in isolation, London Grammar’s sound can be described at best as being a watered-down rehash of more groundbreaking bands; they are simply treading a well worn path and doing nothing to challenge the style.
Artistic gripes aside, this in no way detracts from their commercial success. There was a lot of love in the room for them last night as they went through a crowd-pleasing array of songs that equated to a long portentous chill out sesh where the songs all bled into each other.
The stage design attempted to add some texture and depth where the music was lacking, but visuals alone could only take it so far. Hannah Reid was the only real standout of the show, though more due to the aforementioned vocal talent than any raw charisma or star power. They do seem like a really lovely trio- Hannah enchanted the audience by saying she was practically half Kiwi due to the number of relatives she has living here, while guitarist Dan Rothman had proposed to his girlfriend here a few months prior-but friendly onstage presence alone does not make for a good review. Overall, likeable as they were, London Grammar delivered a competent but rather flat performance.
It’s a sad thing when the crowd is the most noteworthy part of a show, but that was the case last night. While I’ve stopped being surprised at the myriad of music that people choose to get high to, my friend and I were perplexed by the number of people who talked loudly throughout entire songs which was disrespectful to the band and those around them. I don’t know why they bothered coming.
An adequate evening from a band living in the shadow of their predecessors. I would like to see London Grammar step out from behind them and at the very least put their own stamp on the dream pop sound.
Kate Powell
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October 2, 2017 @ 3:50 pm
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head – London Grammar were competent but a bit one -dimensional. I gather they were delayed by problems with the drum mikes, but 90 minutes was frankly more than enough. They need to develop the ability to change up a gear for a live show – thank God they had some semblance of a light /AV show to add a bit of drama and visual interest. Such a lot focussed on the undoubted ability of the singer, however I think if they expanded the band for touring and stretched out a bit they may improve their live act and take some of the pressure of Dot Major, who seemed to be the busiest person on stage jumping from drums to samples to keyboards. I also was amazed at the amount of people having full-on, mainly drunken conversations throughout the night – both in the seats and down on the arena floor. Why bother coming if you’re going to treat the act like aural wallpaper?
October 5, 2017 @ 12:28 pm
Hi Ron, thanks for the comment 🙂 Glad I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, as other reviews have been glowing. Completely agree re: the crowd. I don’t understand how people can drop a significant sum of money only to talk loudly the entire way through. Completely ruins the magic imo.