03/15/05 London, England, Borderline

w/ Bailey

[review]

from http://www.tanyadonelly.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150&view=next&sid=48b8154c85273cc05e363cd253335d52

posted by Kenny.

ok slightly fuller report from me though i don't really write about music all too well...

Borderline was considerably less packed than I'd feared, what with it having sold out really quickly and RK getting a good amount of press (on Teleext and in Saga magazine etc), to be honest there were scant few people around even during the support band. Oh yeah they were alright, 3 blokes - piano, guitar and drumming (v. good drumming), a bit Keane/Embrace-esque and not my cup of tea but undoubtedly good. They had a big sound. Called 'Bailey'. playing at the 12 Bar in London Thurs 24 March.
Venue starts filling up and gerryuk, Different Gravy and myself quaff ales. Blake comes on and spends an ultimately futile 10 minutes soundchecking (me tryying not to giggle at his high-pitched speaking voice that I'd forgotten about, then band comes on and those of us at front really really can't hear any amplified vocals, I reckon - literally just what we could hear by being close to Blake. So blah blah they rocked out pretty loudly [edit] oh the drummer was notably excellent, I don't normally really notice good drumming as I am generally ignorant of what CONSTITUTES good drumming - especially when the lead singer is yummy Rolling Eyes [/edit] while the vocals slowly became more evident, pretty much the same setlist as gerryuk posted above and some more songs (i don't pay attention to titles, sorry...but sad that that they didn't play Accidntl Deth which has rapidly become one of my favourite songs of all time by anyone) and hopefully my photography was unobtrusive being as it was flashless unlike the phalanx of digitals and disposables clicking away
Jenny pulled three nearby punters up on stage to sing "With Arms Outstretched" but I don't think they really knew much more than the chorus...was sweet though. Had to giggle when some bird tried to backchat Blake when he queried his sound guy about the monitors
bird: "It's the Borderline mate it's not the bleeding Brixton Academy"
BLake: "What? Oh that's Robbie, he's our friend, I'm allowed to ask about the monitors" or some such

Main thing was the band were loving it - from postings here from our American friends I was worried that they might have developed some "attitude" but no, they were sweet. McFee reports chatter at the back but there was none of that 'hipster kid' stuff suffered by supersecretlisajay, down the front.
Slightly unnerving moment when Jenny crossed the stage and stood right in front of me (i.e. my face about 2 inches from her bum!) -where's a boy to look Shocked (I think she wanted a close-up pic but I'd run out of film, ha ha)
Massive instrumental wig-out at the end (which is where all the good potos might have been had I not run out of film but hey it's not about the photography is it) then one sweet little encore during which I resorted to the digital camera, always a last resort but think I did OK
http://members.lycos.co.uk/kenny2mri/RiloKiley/Borderline-15Mar2005/

(quickfire-golden.jpg is by far my favourite)

Loitered at the end and chatted with Jenny briefly, she is an angel
Then due to miscalculations on my part, Different Gravy and I had to run very quickly from Euston to St. Pancras, quite an adventure Smile [edit] Friday morning my legs are still feeling the burn, bit worrying really as it's only about 6 minutes of running!