Tuesday 22 March 2022.

Tuesday 22 March 2022. GABRIELLE APLIN live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Female singer-songwriter (now aged 30) will play tracks from her three studio albums. Her most recent is titled "Dear Happy". She had success when she was selected to record the soundtrack for a John Lewis television commercial with a cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love", which went on to top the UK Singles Chart. in Dec 2012. -------------- Level 3 is closed tonight, and Level 2 is half empty so maybe 1000/1200 here out of the 2000 capacity. Up first we have two support acts... NICK WILSON arrived on stage at 7.50pm for his 25 mins acoustic set. An ok set that included a cover of Bruce Springsteens "Dancing In The Dark". SOLOMAN arrived on stage at 8.30pm for his 25 mins acoustic set. He said that he had just been in Los Angeles making music for the past three months. GABRIELLE APLIN arrived on stage at 9.15pm for her 75 mins set. A nice stage production with a huge ruffled cabaret style curtain at the rear of the stage, along with a dozen upright lighting poles spread out around the stage. Gabrielle easily moves between band songs and solo songs with the guitar and piano. For one song she was joined by support Soloman for a duet. A decent enough show. -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- Monday 21 March 2022. LUDOVICO EINAUDI live at Hammersmith Apollo. This is the first of his three sold out shows at this venue. Ludovico Einaudi (now aged 66) is an Italian pianist and composer. Trained at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, Einaudi began his career as a classical composer, later incorporating other styles and genres such as pop, rock, folk, and world music. Einaudi has composed the scores for a number of films and television productions, including This Is England, The Intouchables, I'm Still Here, the TV mini-series Doctor Zhivago, and Acquario (1996), for which he won the Grolla d'oro. His music was used as the score for the Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning films Nomadland and The Father. He has also released a number of solo albums for piano and other instruments, including his 2022 release "Underwater". ------------- Blimey, wonders never cease. Tonight's show is not just sold out, it is rammed solid , as rear stalls standing and rear circle standing have also been sold, and the venue is bodies everywhere in every space. Einaudi and his four musicians (piano, cello, percussion , violin & viola) walk on stage shrouded in darkness and mystery, and reasonable expectation builds. The show was on for around 2 hours 10 mins over two sets of 55 mins and 75 mins. I have seen over 7000 live shows but tonight must be one of the darkest stages I have ever seen. A few lamps dotted around, but generally just very dark. A very respectful crowd who listen intensely , who are very quietly mesmerised during the music played then burst into heavy applause at the end of each piece. The best tracks were the ones that towards the end , built and built and got louder and louder. Lots of atmospheric laid back piano playing. Not much talking to the crowd, apart from when he introduced the musicians. A full standing ovation from the crowd , who loved it. it was interesting enough, but not very exciting to watch.

Posted 22nd March 2022