Month of gigs: part 3

Well. After the life-changing experience that was Sufjan Stevens at Royal Festival Hall, you really wouldn't envy the task facing the next band Yazzle Dazzle and I had lined up as part of our MONTH OF GIGS.

You know what? I really think that should be MONTH OF GIIIIIIIIIIGS but I'm really not sure that typing it like that gets across the echoing sound effect I want to convey. It just looks a bit like I suffered an aneurysm while typing 'gigs.' Could you, like, maybe just imagine there's an echo? Just on the GIGS part so it sounds all, like, "GIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS" but fading off towards the end like someone's shouting it as they're plummeting off a cliff or something. That would be grand.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so post-Sufjan (and let me tell you, I had a proper post-Sufjan funk over the weekend; it was like GRIEF), we were a little worried that nothing would be able to compare. "Cold War Kids have A LOT to live up to," Yazzle said with a serious tone in her voice as we tubed it back from Festival Hall on Thursday night, words that rang in our heads as we took our seats in the Shepherds Bush Empire, where MONTH OF GIGS had begun a little less than two weeks ago. In fact, as we walked past the seats we'd sat in at the Panic! At the Disco gig I pointed forlornly and said "Look - Panic! seats…"

Look, I'll keep it brief. The evening did not begin terribly well. We *hated* the support act. I actually have no idea who they were because they either didn't tell us, or it was mumbled so incoherently that I just didn't pick it up. Their drummer was very animated, though, which was quite exciting. Add to that the fact that the couple seated directly next to me spent a considerable amount of time in the throes of a very handsy, very slurpy makeout session and I was thinking "I'd quite like to be at home right about now."

But then Cold War Kids came on and everything was good. We've seen them a couple of times before, but after just a couple of songs Yazzle turned to me and said "whoa! They've really upped their game!" And they have. Much like how I thought Panic! had really stepped things up since their last tour, Cold War Kids were much more confident and interesting to watch, rather than just listen to. For some reason, though, the bass player kept kicking the singer in the bum which was a bit weird.

Anyway, the general consensus as we filed out of the Empire was - and although it may not sound like it, in the post-Sufjan world I live in this is intended as a compliment - that this was as good a gig as we could've hoped for just days after seeing Sufjan Stevens. And that, my friends, is praise indeed.

Here's the obligatory grainy photos and dodgy video clip.

So the idea was that MONTH OF GIGS (imaginary echo please) concluded where it began with Panic! At the Disco on May 4th at Shepherds Bush Empire. Yazzle and I both liked the synergy and symmetry of that. And for Yazzle it does. But in a stunning and somewhat unexpected (yes, I surprised myself) turn of events, I've extended MONTH OF GIGS (you know what to do by now, right?) by one more show. And two important words here are:

ROAD TRIP.