Mr Scruff @ Koko - 24/10/09

I've seen Mr. Scruff various times around the country (from Manchester to Wales, Wiltshire to Cambridge) and his gigs have varied considerably (from awesome to average). His selection of music from the world of funk, hip hop, latin, ska, electro and beyond is always spot on, with the soundsystem and venue (*ahem* The Junction) being the only real reason for an auditory let-down.



This was fortunately not to be at Koko. Reknowned venue it is, the bass came thick and heavy into the ears and got even those up on highest balconies getting their boogie on.
He does great build ups to heavy basslines and knows exactly how to make his audience move, even if what he's doing technically is pretty simple. Sometimes simplicity is exactly what you need for a knees up. He avoided the temptation to play 'the hits' - Get A Move On and Fish spring to mind. Instead he played a lot of new and exciting stuff off Ninja Tuna and Bonus Bait. This barely mattered at all as Scruff's selection will make you dance whether you know the tune or not

I've sometimes found Andy's animations to be irritating and twee, especially in its efforts to be 'oh so random' with pictures of pies and fish. This seemed to have been toned down in comparison to the other gigs and the animations updated a little to incorporate some pretty amusing saxophone-wielding characters, funky spinning records and other music-related visual delights.



Scruff has worked hard to merchandise himself - his tea stand is now something of a legend - but the need to sell felt a lot more toned down than on previous occassions. I was happy to see that they were giving away free online mp3s of the night (you simply have to input a code onto his website) and were selling a lot more actual music (as opposed to badges/bags/tshirts) that I remember.

As far as the crowd itself went, the place was packed. It was great to see such a varied age range dancing together - scruff certainly had a broad appeal. The number of people completely off their heads was pretty impressive, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves an awful lot. His bass and brass-heavy beats kept the place shaking on down so much so that we had to leave the dancefloor for a breather. Andy Scruff truly minced it.

Placebo + General Fiasco @ iTunes music festival, Roundhouse, Camden.

So iTunes have jumped on the music festival bandwagon in their pursuit of world domination with iTunes Live. The concept of free tickets at first seems amazing, but, ever the sceptic, it did leave me wondering what iTunes hoped to get from it.

After pretending to be some bloke called Jasper, who I bought the ticket off for a tenner, I entered the Roundhouse slightly drunk and just in time to position myself nicely for General Fiasco. I was immediately struck by how very corporate everything felt. I guess I should have been unsurprised, it being an iTunes wankfest and all, but the place seemed completely souless and had a very different vibe to the last gig (The Manic Street Preachers) I saw there a few weeks previous. There were professional cameras filming the whole thing, which was being projected on Glastonbury-style screens all around the venue. We were also excitedly reminded over the speakers at least twice that 'OMG UR GONNA BE ON TV GUYS!'.

I quickly realised the first flaw in the iTunes festival idea. With the ticket allocation supposedly random, it meant the audience were much less 'fans' and much more 'I'm only going because it's free'. Clearly this is a clever idea concocted by iTunes to get more people 'into' music and attending gigs, thus lubricating the company machine with a bit more lovejuice. Whilst the gig was free, I'm guessing iTunes hoped it would encourage the everyday person to become regular gig-goers in future. Whilst good for the music industry, it did mean that the audience were much less excitable. I expected to be squished silly from the get-go as people struggled to get close to Molko & co., but found myself positively roomy.

General Fiasco, whose name I'd vaguely heard before and, Placebo being the great crowd pleasers they are, assumed they would be at least somewhat interesting. However, they turned out to be a complete disappointment. They churned out monotonous indie that seems to have no discernable change after stopping one 'song' and apparently starting another. I thought it might just be my age, but none of the neon-and-sunglasses-toting 15-year olds I was surrounded by seemed to be into it either, with even a few heckles and sighs in the quieter bits. I was beginning to worry whether my teen idols were going to live up to my expectations I'd so nostalgically preserved.



Young crowd

After a refreshingly quick changeover between bands, Brian, Stefan and Steve took to the stage looking as attractive as ever. Unlike certain rock band old-timers *cough* Blur *cough* they had matured well, with a smarter vintage look making them more Thin White Duke than Ziggy Stardust. The dark bassy tones of Kitty Litter made the previously numb audience erupt into life.



From that moment on I was sucked in. Placebo played lots of music from new album Battle For The Sun, which I was quite grateful for. Any more hits and I might have squashed the poor 15-year old girls in front of me into disrepair. To my absolute delight they played Special K and Taste in Men, which persuaded me to go in search of the tickets in the first place. I think I showed my age at that point, as I was clearly more familiar with Black Market Music than the younger ones around me. I liked the fact that we were so packed into each other that I had to decide whether I wanted my arms up or down for the duration of the next song as the finished the last one, though some of the more crushable ones seemed less keen!

The show they put on was truly great, maintaining a massive energy through the set. They were musically very tight and clearly had a soundman who knew his stuff. When I wasn't gaping at Brian's awesome stagemanship, Steve's animalistic shakes of bleach blonde hair, Stefan's beautiful arms and the stunning stage visuals (including old footage of a Bollywood star and war scenes) were more than enough to keep me entertained.

The gig ended with everyone wanting more. Placebo gig virgin, I naturally assumed that Nancy Boy would see us on our way, but no. In fact, they didn't play anything from that first album. Given that they've been bashing it out for over 13 years now, I really don't really blame them! If only other bands *cough* Blur *cough* would learn to do the same.

I left the gig sweaty, exhausted and thankful for fresh air. An amazing piece of nostalgia maturely developed into a band that are still producing interesting music.