Early review: La Roux at Rams Head Live
Contributor Christeen Roden reviews the British pop chanteuse's show at Rams Head Live Sunday night. A full review will come later.
It's hard not to have a lot of affection for La Roux. The combination of Elly Jackson's persona (that ginger hair, for starters) and the way the soulfulness of her voice is juxtaposed with the cold, synthetic nature of the duo's music is incredibly endearing.
But their show Sunday night at Ram's Head left me underwhelmed. Seeing them perform was like listening to the duo's namesake album underwater.
Jackson's powerhouse vocals never shed their trepidation long enough to fill the packed house. Instead, they felt smaller than the already tenuous, if not shrunken, limitations of the album.
And, I'm still not quite sure how to approach the astounding horror that was the second opening act. More on that later.
Set list after the jump.
La Roux Set List:
Tigerlily
New song (perhaps It's Easy Now?)
As if by Magic
I'm Not Your Toy
Quicksand
Growing Pains
Under My Thumb (R Stone's Cover)
Colourless Colour
In For the Kill
Bulletproof
Christeen Roden has an English degree from University of Maryland at College Park. She maintains her own blog about Baltimore and has written for blackbookmag.com. Erik Maza edited this post.
Photo: La Roux MySpace
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
Did this have anything to do either with her recovery from bronchitis + pharyngitis, or perhaps nerves resulting from this being one of the first gigs after the one-two illness punch? On top of the obvious album issues?
Posted by: Laura | November 8, 2010 11:40 AM
Agreed. The Under My Thumb cover was lame. I hope Social Distortion covers that song though when they reschedule their show that they canceled on Saturday.
Her voice seemed weak and whiney. I'm not very familiar with her music other than "Bulletproof", but every time I thought the song was about to change it up a little with a bridge or something it just stayed the same. I think the best performer was the drummer. He looked like Rick Astley, just give him La Roux's hair dye and he'll be set. I yelled "Rick Roll" but they didn't oblige me. The show could've used more special effects too and maybe some costume changes or gold facepaint. Any gimmick would've helped. Also, I was hoping her hair would get messy like Janelle Monae's does after she puts some effort into her perfomance.
Posted by: Scott Maddox, CPA | November 8, 2010 11:53 AM
I know! Her hair appeared to be held up with superglue. I was really hoping it would feel more like her video for Bulletproof. There should have been more neon colors and 80's geometric patterns.
Posted by: Christeen | November 8, 2010 1:25 PM
Huh.....well I guess I'm glad that I accidentally fell asleep at home with my tickets sitting on the table.
Posted by: Tom | November 8, 2010 2:28 PM
Gotta say, you all are a tough crowd. I'm fairly picky about the shows I go to and went to see La Roux for my wife primarily as she's the fan. I felt her performance was spot on. I didn't think the vocals carried as much force as on the album, but they had more emotion behind them. Perhaps I'm taking this from it since I was right in front of the stage. Further away, it might have been a different experience.
And yes, second band made me want to kill myself. Whose ingenious idea was that?
Posted by: Chris | November 12, 2010 5:07 PM