As a part of the Big Day Out lineup for 2010 the trio of Brit
muso stars in Harris, Rascal and Allen played a series of side gigs as an
addendum to the sold out summer festival. With a limited released canon in Australia, Harris led the gig with an upbeat and perfectly metered performance supported by enthusiastic
bandmates and backing vocalists. Relying largely on his hits
'Girls',
'Ready For The Weekend' and
'I'm Not Alone', Harris showed a maturity beyond his twenty-five years to cope with a gradually arriving crowd and a significant change in vibe as the outdoor gig began to take hold. For those who had paid the $93.50 ticket price, primarily to see the headliner Allen, Harris did wonders for his own career by defiantly holding his own.
Following on from Harris,
Dizzee Rascal had the benefit of a hugely successful single in
'Bonkers' to rile up the crowd and whilst he played an energetic set his ability to let the band take over the stage was limited by an incessant pointless banter with the pit crowd. The problem with crowd conversation is that
no one can hear what's going on. This isn't entirely problematic if the artist's end of the conversation is entertaining for those left on the outer. For his end of the gig the crowd battles grew tiresome and left a slightly shallow tone to the set, which is a shame considering Rascal's eagerness to please his audience.
There is no doubt that pleasing her audience is something Allen does in spades. Negating the fact that she has an average voice at best she is an endearing presence on stage and a wilful, eager and above all enigmatic dynamo. Prancing around in huge heels and floaty, revealing dresses, Allen is an artist quite clearly comfortable with herself. She speaks her mind, smokes cigarettes, sits down for breaks, chats aimlessly, chats purposefully, asks for towels and most importantly sings her songs the way people love her to sing them, i.e. honestly.
For whilst she performed all of her hits,
'The Fear',
'Not Fair',
'22',
'Back To The Start',
'Smile' and
'Fuck You', it was the sheer ingenuity of her now familiar
'Womanizer' cover that showed how carefree she is as a performer. Shimmying around in a flapper-inspired gown, arms twisting, Allen inspired a real sense of
camaraderie between she and the crowd. It's a skill to develop a sense of the conspiratorial but somehow she manages to achieve that very sense without the slightest hint of pretension or manipulation. This in itself is the biggest surprise of seeing her perform live as if there is one slightly off element of her interviews and recorded work it is the feeling that one is listening to a severely affected twenty-something trying way too hard to establish herself within this world of the entertainers. It's refreshing to see her sans that vibe.
Allen is now on a hiatus of an undetermined period of time to start a family and live life away from the hoopla of the camera, however, beyond seeing her for potentially the last time the one thing that stands out when seeing her live is recognising the ability for women to get out and speak their mind. We may take that for granted now but in the case of Allen it's refreshing to see her proclivity to simply say what she thinks and feels. Her lyrics may be no more than high-school playground rhyming slags yet it's quite clear that people are at a point where they feel comfortable enough to let her have the chance to say those things. Sure, she's no Wollstonecraft, Steinem or Greer but it doesn't make her any less for taking advantage of the fact that people nowadays have a lesser attention span and the predisposition to switch off when anyone with an educated or informed opinion opens their mouth. Her funny rants on stage are testament to that fact that perhaps if Obama or Rudd were to start delivering their speeches in rhyming couplets they too would end their addresses to significant rounds of
applause.
In the end the gig was a lively if slightly-too-long exposure to what is the current state of Brit music. Between the three of them they cross the spectrum from dance/pop to the urban groove world of Brit-rap and for the most part they did it with aplomb. Cut the nonsense and trim the fat and there is a gig anyone would be willing to pay $150+ to see.
As a part of the Big Day Out lineup for 2010 the trio of Brit muso stars in Harris, Rascal and Allen played a series of side gigs as an addendum to the sold out summer festival. With a limited released canon in Australia, Harris led the gig with an upbeat and perfectly metered performance supported by enthusiastic bandmates and backing vocalists. Relying largely on his hits 'Girls', 'Ready For The Weekend' and 'I'm Not Alone', Harris showed a maturity beyond his twenty-five years to cope with a gradually arriving crowd and a significant change in vibe as the outdoor gig began to take hold. For those who had paid the $93.50 ticket price, primarily to see the headliner Allen, Harris did wonders for his own career by defiantly holding his own.
Following on from Harris, Dizzee Rascal had the benefit of a hugely successful single in 'Bonkers' to rile up the crowd and whilst he played an energetic set his ability to let the band take over the stage was limited by an incessant pointless banter with the pit crowd. The problem with crowd conversation is that no one can hear what's going on. This isn't entirely problematic if the artist's end of the conversation is entertaining for those left on the outer. For his end of the gig the crowd battles grew tiresome and left a slightly shallow tone to the set, which is a shame considering Rascal's eagerness to please his audience.
There is no doubt that pleasing her audience is something Allen does in spades. Negating the fact that she has an average voice at best she is an endearing presence on stage and a wilful, eager and above all enigmatic dynamo. Prancing around in huge heels and floaty, revealing dresses, Allen is an artist quite clearly comfortable with herself. She speaks her mind, smokes cigarettes, sits down for breaks, chats aimlessly, chats purposefully, asks for towels and most importantly sings her songs the way people love her to sing them, i.e. honestly.
For whilst she performed all of her hits, 'The Fear', 'Not Fair', '22', 'Back To The Start', 'Smile' and 'Fuck You', it was the sheer ingenuity of her now familiar 'Womanizer' cover that showed how carefree she is as a performer. Shimmying around in a flapper-inspired gown, arms twisting, Allen inspired a real sense of camaraderie between she and the crowd. It's a skill to develop a sense of the conspiratorial but somehow she manages to achieve that very sense without the slightest hint of pretension or manipulation. This in itself is the biggest surprise of seeing her perform live as if there is one slightly off element of her interviews and recorded work it is the feeling that one is listening to a severely affected twenty-something trying way too hard to establish herself within this world of the entertainers. It's refreshing to see her sans that vibe.
Allen is now on a hiatus of an undetermined period of time to start a family and live life away from the hoopla of the camera, however, beyond seeing her for potentially the last time the one thing that stands out when seeing her live is recognising the ability for women to get out and speak their mind. We may take that for granted now but in the case of Allen it's refreshing to see her proclivity to simply say what she thinks and feels. Her lyrics may be no more than high-school playground rhyming slags yet it's quite clear that people are at a point where they feel comfortable enough to let her have the chance to say those things. Sure, she's no Wollstonecraft, Steinem or Greer but it doesn't make her any less for taking advantage of the fact that people nowadays have a lesser attention span and the predisposition to switch off when anyone with an educated or informed opinion opens their mouth. Her funny rants on stage are testament to that fact that perhaps if Obama or Rudd were to start delivering their speeches in rhyming couplets they too would end their addresses to significant rounds of applause.
In the end the gig was a lively if slightly-too-long exposure to what is the current state of Brit music. Between the three of them they cross the spectrum from dance/pop to the urban groove world of Brit-rap and for the most part they did it with aplomb. Cut the nonsense and trim the fat and there is a gig anyone would be willing to pay $150+ to see.
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