Things to do in London on Hallowe'en
Nov. 1st, 2008 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lprovenLast night was Wednesday 13, featuring the now-considerably-more-famous-(but-no-more-professional)-than-when-I-saw-them-at-Glastonbury Satanic Sluts, supported by Hanoi Rocks. Neither of whom I've ever seen before, but hey, it was cheap and it was Hallowe'en.
Hanoi Rocks still do. They remain impressively bouncy and it was a fun set which went down well with the crowd, quite a few of whom - all the older ones, I reckon - were there to see the support act, not the headliners. Matti Fagerholm, AKA Michael Monroe, was enthusiastic and lively, although it looked to me like he wasn't actually playing the sax for the occasional solo. I've never seen such inept mike-cable-handling, though! (I think the drummer was more responsible for the perfectly-timed mic-stand smashing to the ending drums of several tracks.) And absolutely no interaction or dynamic between him and Antti Hulkko ("Andy McCoy") at all - Fagerholm only seemed to even look at Blomqvist and Christell. I don't know their stuff at all, but I enjoyed their set all the same.
Wednesday 13: well, the kiddies in the crowd loved it and there was a small but fairly lethal moshpit. Musically I thought it was fairly monotonous and uninspired, really - I mean, not down to Pink levels of sanitized no-danger-at-all "rock", but still, it wasn't exactly scintillating. Marilyn Manson without the imagination. Maybe that's what you get when you see a spinoff of a spinoff (Joseph Poole - pseudonymous eponymous frontman used to front the Murderdolls, who have some connection with Slipknot I'm not entirely sure about.) A laugh but I wasn't impressed.
For the last song - a typically lyrically-inventive track for these guys, called "I Like To Say 'Fuck'" (where do they get their ideas from? Sebastian Bach, perhaps?) - W13 were (was?) joined on stage by the Satanic Sluts, the 4-girl dance/burlesque troupe featuring Georgina Baillie, now famed for being daft enough to shag Russell Brand, one of my least favourite "comedians" on the current circuit. They came on and did a fairly inept but decorative cheerleader routine - think the hot subculture cheerleaders from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video, but watered down and sanitized. And less able to actually dance. (Actually, that's unfair, they can, better than I can I'm sure - they just don't all do it in any kind of sync, which is kinda the point, as I understand it.) Highlight of their spot: on their panties, the four members had F, U, C and K respectively in large, friendly* white letters. (Also the same word on their vest/camisole top things.) As Poole spelled out the word in the song, the girls mooned the crowd in time. Clever stuff, eh, readers?
So, overall, a good laugh. Sorry to miss the Hallowe'en party I was invited to - I'm missing tonight's, too, as I'm going clubbing instead. Failed to meet up with Freddie and Ziggie after the gig - huge queues for the Fox and a £2 cover charge for a pub with no beer I'd actually drink from choice - so I went for a solitary pint of Steenbrugge in Lowlander's on my own before home.
But enough of this. I must head off to UnConvention, for which I am, predictably, Late.
* Actually, it's entirely possible that I'd find anything printed on a hot goth ch1xx0r's knickers friendly. Up to and including "fuck off". But there was an unmistakable resemblance to that famously-described font.
Hanoi Rocks still do. They remain impressively bouncy and it was a fun set which went down well with the crowd, quite a few of whom - all the older ones, I reckon - were there to see the support act, not the headliners. Matti Fagerholm, AKA Michael Monroe, was enthusiastic and lively, although it looked to me like he wasn't actually playing the sax for the occasional solo. I've never seen such inept mike-cable-handling, though! (I think the drummer was more responsible for the perfectly-timed mic-stand smashing to the ending drums of several tracks.) And absolutely no interaction or dynamic between him and Antti Hulkko ("Andy McCoy") at all - Fagerholm only seemed to even look at Blomqvist and Christell. I don't know their stuff at all, but I enjoyed their set all the same.
Wednesday 13: well, the kiddies in the crowd loved it and there was a small but fairly lethal moshpit. Musically I thought it was fairly monotonous and uninspired, really - I mean, not down to Pink levels of sanitized no-danger-at-all "rock", but still, it wasn't exactly scintillating. Marilyn Manson without the imagination. Maybe that's what you get when you see a spinoff of a spinoff (Joseph Poole - pseudonymous eponymous frontman used to front the Murderdolls, who have some connection with Slipknot I'm not entirely sure about.) A laugh but I wasn't impressed.
For the last song - a typically lyrically-inventive track for these guys, called "I Like To Say 'Fuck'" (where do they get their ideas from? Sebastian Bach, perhaps?) - W13 were (was?) joined on stage by the Satanic Sluts, the 4-girl dance/burlesque troupe featuring Georgina Baillie, now famed for being daft enough to shag Russell Brand, one of my least favourite "comedians" on the current circuit. They came on and did a fairly inept but decorative cheerleader routine - think the hot subculture cheerleaders from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video, but watered down and sanitized. And less able to actually dance. (Actually, that's unfair, they can, better than I can I'm sure - they just don't all do it in any kind of sync, which is kinda the point, as I understand it.) Highlight of their spot: on their panties, the four members had F, U, C and K respectively in large, friendly* white letters. (Also the same word on their vest/camisole top things.) As Poole spelled out the word in the song, the girls mooned the crowd in time. Clever stuff, eh, readers?
So, overall, a good laugh. Sorry to miss the Hallowe'en party I was invited to - I'm missing tonight's, too, as I'm going clubbing instead. Failed to meet up with Freddie and Ziggie after the gig - huge queues for the Fox and a £2 cover charge for a pub with no beer I'd actually drink from choice - so I went for a solitary pint of Steenbrugge in Lowlander's on my own before home.
But enough of this. I must head off to UnConvention, for which I am, predictably, Late.
* Actually, it's entirely possible that I'd find anything printed on a hot goth ch1xx0r's knickers friendly. Up to and including "fuck off". But there was an unmistakable resemblance to that famously-described font.
