First Aid Kit at Shepherd's Bush Empire

First Aid Kit
Idiot Wind
Shepherd's Bush Empire, 20 November 2012

With their second album, The Lion's Roar, First Aid Kit have made, for me at least, maybe the album of the year. Full of swirling harmonies and with deep roots in the very best of Americana music, it's hard to believe that something so authentic sounding was created by two Swedish siblings, one still in her teens. Yet the Soderberg sisters, Klara and Johanna, have done just that and maybe they know how unlikely it sounds because they actually introduce themselves tonight by telling us "Hello, we're First Aid Kit. We're two Swedish sisters from Stockholm".

Haim at KCLSU

Haim
Death At Sea
King's College London Student Union, 14 November 2012

Death At Sea are a pretty typical support band. An indie band from Liverpool with one single to their name, they actually sound far more polished than you'd expect from a group that's only been together mere months. Still their sound is pretty unremarkable, not terrible just overly familiar. For me the most interesting thing about them is the way they were dressed: like something out of an 80s movie. The singer was clearly channeling Springsteen, satorially speaking, sporting a denim jacket, with the arms cut off and plaid shirt over a t-shirt. The only thing missing was the bandana and mullet hair, instead disappointingly he had the fashionable One Direction/Justin Bieber hair. I guess the kids may love them.

Soundgarden at Shepherd's Bush Empire

Soundgarden
Shepherd's Bush Empire, 9 November 2012

About 17 years ago my brother and I, along with my two best friends, won tickets to see Soundgarden play the first concert at the newly re-opened Shepherd's Bush Empire. Before it had been a theatre and the set of Wogan's daily TV chat show but this was the first time it was being used as a music venue. Our seats were way up in the gods but damn, were we excited. I had seen Soundgarden before and at smaller venues but this was the first time they had returned to these shores since becoming one of the big grunge four (Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains were the other three) and it was just before their huge breakthrough album, Superunknown, was released. I remember Artis The Spoonman, the man they had named the first single from the album for, coming on and playing a short support and then watching the tops of the band's heads as they treated us to songs we hadn't heard before from the forthcoming album as well as old favourites.