London: LA2 1996

London LA2 1996

I can not think of many things less exciting then queuing down a narrow, smelly alleyway off Charing Cross road on a cold, dark, wet Saturday evening in October. However as it was only the second time I have had to queue to get into a My Life Story show throughout the whole of Tour Sparkle I couldn't grumble too much. The only other venue we had to queue at was Kingston University and that was largly due to the venues complete incompetance. Tonight the reason we were queuing was because there were a lot of people wanting, like us, to see My Life Story, and the doors didn't open for another 20 minutes. Or at least I hoped it was.

Twenty two minutes later and we were let loose into the LA2. Probably the biggest venue My Life Story would play on their tour, with the exception of the dates they played supporting JTQ. Some of the band had already taken up residence in the upstairs bar, however they soon dissapeared backstage as their adoring public started to invade their privacy.

Support for the show was provided not only by Ether, but by Gretchen Hofner who were playing on selected dates throughout the first half of the tour. So far I had managed to miss their act completely, and tonight was no exception. By the time Ether were on though, I was claiming my spot at the front of the stage, although the larger than normal crowd made this slightly more difficult than I would have liked.

The My Life Story set was as always spectacular. Jake seemed to thrive performing infront of such a large crowd who had all come to see him, and enjoyed the music. It makes a great difference when the majority of the crowd have turned up to hear the music and not just to drink cheap beer all night. The climax of the first part of the now familair set was as always 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, but before the band played it Kumar came on stage to present Jake with a framed copy of the 7" to celebrate "sales in excess of 100", much to the amusement of the orchestra and the crowd. Angel and Funny Ha Ha were played as the encore, with ballons being released on the crowd during the last song, and Kumar appearing on stage with 2 huge numbers from the 12 Reasons Why video which made their way around the crowd. One of them found it's way back onto the stage, but the other one (a number 7 I think) dissapeared. You have to admire anyone who manages to get a six foot high foam "7" out of the LA2 and home on the tube.

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