Monday 31 March 2014

Fearless for Art...Jazmine Sullivan @ Koko, Camden

Last night Jazmine Sullivan  took to a London stage, for her first gig in almost 10 years, courtesy of Soulgigs. If you've been following twitter @thellondonista, you'll know I've been rather excited about this gig and with reason!

Opening the show from backstage at Koko, Jazmine had the audience screaming with anticipation as she sang 'Famous' with full band and 2 backing singers. 
The set also included popular favourites, 'Bust Your Windows', 'In Love with Another Man' and encore song, 'Need U bad'.  

There was also a rendition of Daft Punk and Pharrell's,' Get Lucky', after Jazmine admitted to being single and finding refuge and fun in music. She threw some shapes on stage with her backing singers and delivered vocal acrobatics to showcase an amazing range and a scatting ability to leave you with your mouth open. 



Atlantan Singer and Musician Marian Mereba (left) also introduced herself to London for the first time last night and her track, 'Go to London', implies it's clearly something she has always wanted to do. She has an incredible voice. She can throw in the odd rap à la Lauryn Hill,  she plays guitar and harmonica and she does a wonderful cover of Rihanna's Man Down. 

Other support artist Cleo Sol  blew everyone away with her smooth voice and her mixed heritage influences. Check out her soundcloud for free downloads.

In between artists, FriskyDJ and Milktray kept the audience educated with a history lesson of good ol' back in the day r'n'b. They took us back to a time of walkmans not ipods, Opal Fruit not Starburst and BT Phoneboxes with a 10p calling charge. 

But they soon turned comedians or you could say poets, describing one guy as wrapping himself around his girl 'like a roti'. They had people on the floor in stitches, as I'm sure they did when they played 'Candy'. Honestly, it should be illegal to play that jam in crowded multi-level venues. Let's just hope no one turned down the stairs. Doh!

Later on during her set, Jazmine Sullivan openly admitted that her time away had been related to issues of image and confidence, knocked by an abusive relationship, to which the audience shouted, 'F*** him!' and,'You look amazing!', which she did.  

Highlighting her feminine curves, she wore a black dress with cleavage on show, thigh high split and ankle strap skyscraper heels adorned with that big curly hair.

Her story, however, is a reminder of how much of herself she puts into her music, citing that she now appreciates that every part of her is a 'work of art' in new song, 'Masterpiece'. Watch out for it on the third album. Can't wait!!!!



Monday 17 March 2014

Chillin' at ICEBAR

On an extremely windy Saturday night, there is only one thing worth doing, right? Head to ICEBAR?!
I know, I know, it's crazy to go from cold to freezing (-5º to be precise) but what cooler place for a chilled out evening with friends? And let's face it, you still eat ice cream and to some extent enjoy it more in those colder months.

Just after the main entrance on Heddon Street, we are given a large poncho style coat with large black gloves attached, followed by a ticket entitling us to one free drink at THE icebar. Prepped and ready to explore, only an automatic door separates the main bar from the man made icebox. Going towards the door, I have a Stars in Their Eyes moment ('Tonight Matthew I'm going to be...') and before you know it, in the words of Foreigner, 'the door is closing, you are leaving the world behind' and the words, 'This is so cool!' will have left your soon-to-be quivering lips.
 
In the ice room, there's a chair made of ice, drinks are being served in ice glasses and of course these are served on the icebar. I can't help but wonder if the barman is warm enough but I guess he probably can't feel the difference anymore. 
I opt for a cocktail called Art Deco, including Absolut blue vodka, kiwi puree and orange juice but as I reach for the glass, I soon realise that my own leopard print gloves just aren't cutting the chill and I finally grab the ones attached to my coat. Attempting to put them on, it becomes apparent that my right glove is on my left side and vice versa but it's too cold to even try to rectify what seems to be a manufacturing error so I cross the gloves over and grab my drink. Thankfully, my chance of slipping and falling head first have been reduced by the sticky floor and the fact that there is a time limit due to popular demand. No time for dignified sipping on that ice-hugged drink then.
Marching orders are soon given and a few quick slurps later, we find ourselves back in the main bar, where the chilled our vibe extends as far as the decor and dress code. Almost anything goes, even nice trainers but no trackkie bottoms
.

So while the below zero adventure may have been short lived , I can definitely say that ICEBAR is worth seeing, especially if you need somewhere to cool down in the summer. Fingers crossed we get one!

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