La Roux

Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London (12th November)

On Wednesday night we made the trek west to see fellow south Londoner Elly Jackson, front La Roux at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

And she certainly didn’t let us down.  Gently or otherwise.

Admittedly, the Empire is not our favourite venue.  The lack of a sloping floor can make it difficult to see the stage, it’s invariably difficult to get to the bar, and it would be quicker to drive through central London in rush hour traffic than to get served by the cloak room staff.  But more on that later.

This being my first time seeing La Roux, I couldn’t wait to see how their studio sound would be recreated live.

After bursting onto the scene in 2009 with her self-titled album La Roux, it’s taken 5 years for her to release her follow-up Trouble in Paradise.  Much has been written about the anxiety attacks she suffered in the wake of her debut album, and at one point she even thought that she may have had throat cancer.

Like many artists whose first album shoots them into the spotlight, the pressure to back up that success with a killer second album is immense.  But a gap between albums also means that the artist has the opportunity to reflect on their sound and release something fresh and new, not just the tracks that missed the cut for the debut.  This most definitely appears to be the case for Elly Jackson.

She opened her set with, “Let me down gently” from Trouble in Paradise.  Moody, brooding and emotional, her voice on this track is far more raw than the falsetto vocals on many of her other songs.  It’s slick, slow-moving and sexy and not as “throw-away poppy” as songs such as “Quicksand” (which doesn’t really do anything for me).

La Roux’s popularity was evidenced by a packed venue and she visibly has queer appeal.  Wearing a tux jacket, black braless vest, Annie Lennox red quiff and a definite strut, the crowd was eating out of the palm of her hand.  She’s not one for lengthy monologues in-between tracks.

Kicking into the 80s synth heavy, falsetto voiced “Fascination” the vocal track was so multi-layered it was difficult to tell what was sung live and what was recorded.  Given the set sounded so close to the album one can only assume that much of it was the latter.  But that didn’t detract from the gig.  The sound was amazing – I’m not sure which I liked more, the vocals or the beautifully mixed, catchy synth-pop backing track.  Such an 80s sound – yet unlike anything that actually came out of the 80s.

“Sexotechque” was one of my favourite tracks of the night with its Caribbean-inspired feel and catchy lyrics.  Prior to this gig I hadn’t been that familiar with her second album.  Would I buy it after this gig?  I think I would.  It’s not just the vocals but the orchestration of the tracks that really makes an impact.  From the slapping bass and electronic drum beats of “I’m not your toy”, to the trumpet blasts and funky riffs of “Uptight Downtown”, the sound was slick and there was much throwing of arms, shoulder shrugging and general get-down feel-good vibes emanating from the crowd.

She finished her encore with the classic “Bulletproof”.  Pure tinny synth pop at its best.

Given that this was probably one of the most sober gigs I’ve been to (due to the fact there were only two staff manning the bar at what was most definitely a sold-out show), the fact that I left thinking about buying Trouble in Paradise means that any positive impressions were purely music induced.

But I stress – any positive impressions were purely down to La Roux.  Not the venue.

Prior to the final track of the night we’d decided to battle our way back through the crowd to get to the cloak room.  Given the length of time we’d spent queuing both here and at the bar we thought we’d try and beat the hordes and catch the end of their set from the cloak room queue.

Shepherd’s Bush – sort it out.  This was the first time in my life I have ever seen a stage set packed away BEFORE I’ve recovered my jacket.  Why your crowd control staff were insisting that it wasn’t their job to actually control the crowd mobbing the cloak room is beyond me.

We left the venue to the sound of a disgruntled gig goer complaining that it was the second time he’d missed his train back to Leeds after a trek to the Empire, due to the lack of any form of cloakroom system.

Nothing leaves more of a sour taste in your mouth than feeling you spent more time queuing than actually enjoying the gig.

La Roux set list

Let Me Down Gently
Fascination
Kiss and Not Tell
In for the Kill
Quicksand
Sexotheque
Cruel Sexuality
I’m Not Your Toy
Tropical Chancer
Uptight Downtown
Colourless Colour
Silent Partner

Encore:
Tigerlily
Bulletproof

 

Visit our Flickr page to see photo highlights from the night, and our YouTube channel where you can watch extracts from the show.
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You can also check out our Past Events page to see our music archives.

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