soledad penadés

Although I just could find a couple of minutes yesterday to remove the polka dotted header image, I've been wanting to write about The Pipettes' Saturday concert at the Roundhouse since then...

As expected, there were lots of girls, boys and children all dressed in polka dots, with lassos, tutu's and all that stuff. But there were also some unusual people, like a very tough, completely bald and square-shouldered complexion man, which we thought was a bodyguard at the beginning but ended showing himself as a sweet bloke, singing in the ear of his girlfriend and clapping the hands like the biggest fan ever.

There was also a completely drunk man that was miraculously able to stand, but oscillated continuously in an erratic way, sometimes hanging on the people surrounding him and other times placing his head about the shoulders of the poor attendants ahead.

Misty's Big Adventure were the support for the big act. I had never heard of them and I must confess they were quite weird. Somehow they looked to me like a circus parade, maybe because of the singer's hat - something like And now ladies and gentleman you're going to see the most unexpected show in Earth!!- and then that guy with the red suit and lots of hanging hands appears on stage, kind of scaring!

It was a real pity that the sound equalization for this band was soooooo poor. We just could hear the trumpet because we were in front of the girl playing it, and same goes for the chorus. The piano/keyboards player was extremely funny and amusing, with that way of moving the feet at the same time that she played. You have to see it for understanding it. We definitely want to listen more from them.

The big act, The Pipettes live, was somehow disappointing. Although they did really well, singing perfectly, making perfect jokes, etc, etc, it was all so perfect and prepared as it was in this concert I found days before. I always thought that a live was the opportunity to improvise or experiment with arrangements, expand songs a bit more, play them with a different rhythm, kind of interacting with the public, but maybe I was expecting too much from this!

Apart from that, and from the fact that I'm beginning to consider to bring with me a box in order to see something on the stage, I really enjoyed the evening, and quite liked the little funny details as the candies which we were offered before and during the concert (no, they weren't drugs!) and the confetti which was poured from above our heads in the last song, kind of resembling snow. It was so amazing to see people keeping the confetti in their heads after the concert had finished!

Something which surprised me was that I was expecting more fanaticism but people was quite quiet; apart from singing and dancing, nobody threw lingerie to the stage or cried or whatnot. The only passion act that we saw consisted in a lesbian couple having the time of their lives, right in front of a group of super-pure girls-with-mummy which were complaining about the artificial smoke in the concert hall prior to the beginning of the concert, and really looked a bit embarrased.

All in all, it was cool, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to somebody outside Christmas period. You know, during Christmas we allow ourselves a certain degree of naivity but when it finishes it's kind of different... So it will depend on how innocent do you feel like!

PD We brought a camera but didn't charge it, so you'd better rely on this search for The Pipettes at Roundhouse in flickr for some pictures.