The Troubadour 10.14.06

Saturday night I saw an amazing show at The Troubadour with Mark Ronson and Lily Allen headlining.

The great night began when Mark Ronson came on to spin a set. He DJ-ed for probably 30min. Mixing, scratching, and making everyone listen carefully for what he'd pull out next. Various samples of Coldplay, Britney Spears, and The Gorillaz could be heard alongside the likes of The Game, 50 Cent or even the Jackson 5. It was really quite cool to see and hear. I always wanted to learn how to DJ, but seeing Ronson do his thing was just crazy good. The key to being a great DJ is knowing what's hip but yet knowing how to piece lots of stuff together to make a new sound and sometimes mixing in old songs.

It was kinda weird that at the beginning of his set we sat in the balcony of The Troubadour where everyone was sitting, and below everyone stood there like statues just watching. No one was dancing, it was just weird. If it were a party in Vegas the crowd would be going nuts, but here people just looked on in awe.


The above picture is Ronson doing his thing. As well as below.





Lily lily lily...my oh my oh my. If you still haven't heard of her or her music, come out from under your rock and embrace this UK pop songstrist. She's cool, she's hip, she's cute, she's funny, and she's witty. There is really no one like her. When I tell people about her I usually compare her to The Streets but that's only because the way she "raps" is more like speaking on ocassion. Other times she sings infectious hooks with her beautiful voice. I was initially skeptical that her voice sounded better in the studio than it would live, but that thought was immediately dashed when she began her set that night. The girl can flat out sing.

The notion that I got to stand about 10 feet from the stage is amazing. The Troubadour allows you to be so close to the artist it's kinda crazy. We were RIGHT THERE. I wish I had the setlist in hand, but alas I don't. She sang all of the crowd favorites including, LDN, Smile, Alfie, Everything's Just Wonderful, and Knock 'Em Out. At one point during the set she stopped in between songs to comment on how everyone in the crowd was singing along and knew the words. She said, "You all know the words and the albums doesn't come out in the States for 4 months...you can thank Capitol Records for that..." And the crowd began to booo which was hilarious because the whole upper balcony was reserved for Capitol Records V.I.Ps. So she told us not to boo and chuckled. At the beginning of the night she commented that some of her lyric sheets were missing and that whoever took them needed to give them back otherwise she's be a little lost near the end of her set. Not exactly the best thing to admit about your own songs. Yet on the flip side at least she wasn't lip-syncing.

Ms. Allen handled herself well on stage but still seemed kind of star struck by how adoring the crowd was of her. Pretty much everyone in the crowd was into her set. It was weird looking around between songs and seeing random hipsters that had the 'i'm-so-cool-that-i'm-trying-to-be-uncool' look to them. We were standing next to a writer who was wearing a beat up leather jacket, greying ponytail, and grizzled face who would take ocassional notes and looked totally unimpressed the whole time. I understand needing to be objective but lighten up or get out. I'd heard from my friend that Allen played a super-short set (like 30min.) and called it a night. This time was a little bit longer at 45 minutes. Admittadly she doesn't have a lot of material, and she made the most of her time. She easily chatted with the crowd and thank the audience multiple times for their support. Thankfully this wasn't the typical L.A. crowd that I've heard about where everyone stands around acting like they're too cool for school, and texting each other on their BlackBerrys. The crowd was younger and really got into it for the most part. I can't wait till she comes back to the States in 2007 to a much bigger house.