On Thursday I went to London for the day with my mum (for my birthday which was yesterday), mostly to see the superb Matt Owens and his band The Delusional Vanity Project. The show was the launch of Matt's solo record, Songs For An Empty Room, a slight departure from his work as a founding member of Noah & The Whale, but brilliant in its own right - read my review of the record here.
The show was at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen and after walking in the opposite direction to the venue for a while we were lucky to get there just in time for opening act Tom Figgins, who played solo and also plays as part of Matt's band. Playing to a fairly small offering of people, most of whom made up Matt's band, Tom put in a lively performance regardless, and really won me over with his solo tracks. Check out this performance of his track Let Your Roots Grow.
The second support set was from Stratford-upon-Avon band My Grey Horse. I had taken a listen to their latest EP online before the show and had enjoyed it. Whilst I can't remember much about the set apart from that there was a lot of clapping, it was great and I certainly remember liking it enough to take a punt on the band's album I Still Don't Understand at the merch stall. Having since listened to it a couple of times I'm loving the record and would recommend it (sadly no idea what to compare it to!) You can order physical copies of the album here on the band's store.
The bar's gig room having filled up, it was time for Matt's set. As with the other times I've seen the band play lately, the performance was highly fuelled and a showcase of the talents of the individual members of the ensemble. For instance, the band features Matt's Noah bandmate Fred Abbott on keys, who is also working on a solo record, Serious Poke, out late July. Above is a video I got of the band performing one of my favourite tracks of the record, Jack Does Hollywood, which is a sort of rough rock track about channelling Jack the Ripper and going on a killing spree in Hollywood... It was a really fun evening, by the end of the set a mass of the crowd had broke into dance, which culminated in this vine!
To gain more experience shooting gigs I took my camera along, I got the below shot when trying out the settings from the crowd, and you can view some more of my photos of Matt's set here.
Playing a UK tour of sorts and constantly booking new shows to promote the record, you can catch Matt at various shows in London, as well as in Leeds, Manchester and Brighton. All dates and ticket/RSVP info on his website here.
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