On wednesday 25th September I headed to Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) to see Alt j live.
I am a huge fan of Alt j and was absolutely ecstatic when I got tickets to see them. Alt J is an English indie rock band who first formed together in 2007. In 2012 Alt J had a fabulous year, winning the Mercury Prize and releasing their debut album "An Awesome Wave." Their follow up, and highly anticipated second album "This Is All Yours" was released last month (september) and went straight to number 1 in the UK album charts.
Starting the night off was british singer/songwriter Marika Hackman. Although she has a lovely voice, I will say all her tracks seemed a bit samey. Very sombre and chilled out I felt her style was a strange choice for the opening of an Alt J gig. One of the tracks she performed was Bath Is Black - check it out Here.
After hackman came Alt J - and boy was the 10,000 packed out crowd excited to see them. Arriving on stage surrounded by a haze of smoke, the guys started the evening with the lead single from their new album 'Hunger of the Pine."
The evenings set list included: Hunger of the Pine, Fitzpleasure, Something Good, Left Hand free, Dissolve Me, Matilda, Bloodflood, Bloodflood Pt.2, Ripe & Ruin, Tessellate, Every Other Freckle, Taro, Warm Foothills, The Gospel of John Hurt. Encore: Lovely Day. Nara and finally Breezeblocks.
I must say I was thoroughly impressed with the live performance of Alt J. Keeping things simple and singing both new and old tracks from their albums, the crowds attention was kept from start to finish. It was clear that Joe Newman's unique yet instantly recognisable vocals were just as strong live than they are on record. Accompanying the music was also an impressive light arrangement. The lights changed in time with the the music and seemed to perfectly reflect the theme of each song. Combine the lights, the music, and the four boys from Alt J and you have yourself the ingredients for a perfect live show.
For me, the highlight of the evening was hearing the guys perform my personal favourite track "Taro." Check out the video below for more...
This was easily one of the best gigs I have been to in sometime and I would definitely urge people to check them out. Later this year Alt J will be performing at the O2, and I can't stress enough, if you are interested then grab tickets soon because you can bet they will be sold out in no time.
Tour dates:
16th Nov - Beacon Theatre, NYC
24th Jan - The O2, London http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/AltJ-tickets/artist/1684909
