A few weeks ago, I wrote these immortal words:
"Quite an exciting week lies ahead, particularly an über-glam Sunday night with the stars. I'll be disappointed if there's no sighting of Sophie Ellis-Bextor too. It's my new project."
The Sunday night I referred to was my attendance of the London premiere of Dreamgirls. Alas, Sophie wasn't there, and on reflection, of course she wasn't. Why should she? Why would she?
No, when I finally ran into La Bex it was most unexpectedly last night. I chanced upon her as she stood at the top of a flight of stairs at the Hammersmith Apollo. She was there with her husband/babydaddy, who's a member of The Feeling, and couldn't have been more friendly. We even had a little chat. Anyway, it's been quite the week for 'me and...' photos, and I saw no reason not to continue, so here's my most recent triumph...
The paparazzo on this occasion was MR who grabbed my spare ticket for Nelly Furtado at the very final nanosecond due to a cancellation. After that, we were game for more. Who would be next?
I say this because La Bex was not the only music superstar at the Hammersmith Apollo last night. I also saw the truly startlingly (these days) Rhys Ifans-ish Simon Le Bon, but I wasn't so sure about going up to him and asking for a photo. He seemed quite intent on going and getting his pint from the bar (apparently even celebrities have to queue too, sometimes) and oddly enough didn't draw nearly enough attention as Sophie. Maybe the crowd were the wrong generation and didn't know who he was? It is possible, I suppose.
One of my fascinations at these events is who the fans turn out to be. I mean, who's lovin' Nelly? In the end, the crowd was a very mixed bag. My sense was that it was mostly folks from the 'burbs who listen to radio in the daytime, a few kids, a smattering of slightly awkward-looking gayboys. Either way, I will say, that Nelly, she does love her fans. And I know this because she told us. A few times.
If you've listened to the Loose album, you'll know that it's a clutch of really great pop songs, but that interrupting them, in a maddening Janet Jackson-style, are clips of totally inane in-studio chatter between her and producer Timbaland. The sheer banality of what is said irritates me when I listen to the record. However, I was reminded of it last night when Nelly chatted with the audience between songs. How about this for repartée...
"you know me, I like to try new things!"
"this one's for the fans!"
"I write songs about all sorts of things, even football!" (cue Forza)
However, I'm being a bitch, and it's all a little unncessary because when she sings, it's just fantastic. There were a number of really great moments. In particular an a capella version of Try was the highlight for me. I had also forgotten how much I liked Powerless, from the second album. She also rattled out a great, uptempo version of All Good Things and polished off the pre-encore ending with an everybody-on-their-feet run at Promiscuous.
As you can kind of see from the photos, she had cleverly put-together smallish-venue set. All very Miami, white palmtrees, those things that look like shutters. It was clever. Her gorgeous dresses reflected that too - very 'cocktails on South Beach'. The only blip was when she put on a terrible pair of white jeans for a few songs which wasn't very flattering on her bottom. There was also a version of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack perfomed by her backing singers in which she had absolutely no involvement - maybe she was backstage having a cigarette? - which I thought was slightly strange.
For all my minor gripes, the grand finale of Maneater was worth the ticket price alone. Starting with a roar of grungy heavy metal guitar then breaking into a chest-cavity-shuddering beat, it had every person dancing doing the whole 'look at me! me!' thing. And as she had truly grabbed us by the short and curlies, bonkers old Nelly bade us goodnight.
As I walked home, I thought that maybe life has got a little crazy lately. What with Kylie, Rufus and now Sophie Bex, I'm wondering if friends are going to start looking at me sideways, dying to say...
"Tricky, darling, you look a little tired and emotional; might not now be the most perfect moment for one of those fabulous new 24-hour express rehab sessions?"
But I say: no, no no.
Nelly Furtado Try
I love La Bex and her husband is cuter in person, up close, than he is in pics.
Meanwhile infamous Perez was at the show with his pink hair:
http://perezhilton.com/topics/nelly_furtado/bringing_the_tdot_to_the_ldn_20070222.php
Posted by: xolondon | February 22, 2007 at 06:52 PM
I concur, and as I said, La Bex was utterly charming and chatty. She even put her arm around me.
Perez. Ick. But interesting to see he was there. It was a very buzzy show, I have to say. It was like Nelly knew the wind was blowing in her direction.
Unlike earlier in the week...
http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,2016024,00.html
Posted by: Richard Chapman | February 22, 2007 at 07:36 PM