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August 1, 2008

Sexy People & Superstars



...okay, so if you've never seen Macy Gray in concert then that will mean NOTHING to you!

Had a good night out last night. Dinner, cocktails, river boat ride up to Greenwich then saw MACY GRAY at the IndigO2. First time at the venue. Not bad. We were in the upper balcony (King's Row) which was a little plush and not well laid out at all. I know they had to fit the auditorium into a weird shape, but c'mon, the folks in the seats at the back probably couldn't even see the stage! No matter. We were not at the back, thank you very much.

Macy kicked off the show with one of my favourite songs from her most recent album, Big, entitled "Get Out". Definitely one of the better collaborations with Justin Trousersnake. She then pulled out a string of fab songs, spanning all her albums, adding in a few covers here and there for spice. She didn't play a few tunes that I wished she had, but let's face it, Macy's a good time and the girl can do whatever she likes, it'll all be fine.

Seriously, even if you're not a Macy fan, you'd still have a great time at one of her shows as she knows how to work an audience. Her backing band was very tight and groovy. For those axe-heads out there, her sidekick guitarist was playing a tobacco-burst Fender Strat. Lots of wah. Quite Hendrix meets Prince at times. Top notch performance. I googled who it was and I'm not 100% sure, but I think he's ex-chilli-pepper, Arik Marshall. Dude, apologies if I got that wrong. Whoever you are, you rocked.

The one slight downer on the evening was actually the boat ride to and from the O2. Although we were told that there would be an express service, there was not. It seems that the express only runs on nights where there's a concert on at the arena, so we were stuck on a boat which stopped at every pier along the way... and there are a lot of piers, let me tell you!

Anywho... that pales into insignificance in the grand scheme of things because... WE LOVE MACY!!!!!

I wouldn't have said it was our best experience of her, but it was damn fine. The best show of hers we've been to was still at a small dive nightclub called Numbers, in Houston. It was about 110 degrees, Macy was sweating, the crowd was sweating, the music was grinding and she totally rocked the place into Oblivion. A truly unforgettable night.

3 comments:

Pribek said...

Sounds like it was a fun show Kenski.
I don't have any Macy and I should. She's just very musical I think. Any recommends?

Justin Trousersnake!!?? that's funny

Ken Skinner said...

Any Macy recommendations... Oooh. Well, she's only had 4 proper albums (I think?!)

I love them all, but in different ways. I think my fave is probably "The Id" but you almost have to listen to her first album to 'get it', if that makes sense? I do like "Big" a lot, too, particuarly the second half.

The magic of Macy is kinda that her performance is like a riding a roller-coaster where you're never quite sure that a wheel isn't about to fall off.

One thing I'd say, though, is to definitely steer well clear of the DVD of her live in Vegas. The performance wasn't exactly stellar. We got it as a gift and sat through it wondering what on earth we were watching given that we *know* what a Macy gig is like.

Pribek said...

Vegas will take the nuts out of anything.
I'm most familiar with the first record as it got some radioplay and was featured at many of the lakeside fondue parties that summer.
I'll look for "The Id".