There’s so much love in the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Collins is determinedly walking with the aid of a stick to his spot at the front of the stage, his band pumping out Chic’s Good Times. Sometimes, the applause of a performer onto the stage can be a little perfunctory, but there’s no hint of that here. Every single person in the crowd is ecstatic and thankful that the Scotsman is with us, the fact that he’s making music a bonus scarcely believable five years ago. He settles into position and leads his band, and make no mistake lead he does, into the title track from his new album, Losing Sleep.
Gig Of The Week – Yo La Tengo @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Ornette Coleman curated Meltdown festival dominates the London gig listings this week, with my pick being an appearance from Yo La Tengo tonight at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Not only are the New Jersey trio rarely over here (and as an aside – where are the Condo Fucks appearances this side of the pond, hey?) but for the festival they are showing up in ‘Freewheeling’ mode. Moving away from the traditional setlisted gig this is an opportunity for fans to holler at the band – conversations, requests I guess anything goes! One of my biggest gig regrets is that I didn’t catch the band whilst over in NYC in December ’08 during their residency at Maxwells on their home patch, and alas I’m not able to make good that fact tonight. Tickets are long gone, but Scarlet Mist and Ebay are your friends.
Yo La Tengo – Sometimes I Don’t Get You
Read on for the rest of the week’s recommendations…
















