iTunes Festival - The XX / Wildbeasts

So, I am the biggest blagger going - but even I couldn't manage to blag myself a pair of tickets to The XX's iTunes gig OR Somerset House gig. I tried everything but these guys have got SO big recently it was impossible. So I paid for tickets that everyone else was getting for free - stupid maybe, but I think I got a pretty good deal considering what some idiots were asking for on Ebay!!

Anyway... having only heard of The XX just two short months ago, I was rather excited about this gig. This was nothing compared to the friend who accompanied me (the person who told me about the band in the first place - I definitely owed him one!) who said he hadn't been as excited since Christmas 1993 when he got his Mr Frosty!

First on were The Wildbeasts - who I hadn't heard of before but I had an open mind and was looking forward to a little dance before the main act. Within a song and a half I was bored. Don't get me wrong, I was tapping my foot - I like a good beat - but the songs were terribly same-y and the singers kept using that annoying falsetto voice I'm not a huge fan of. About 5 songs in I went to the toilet and apparently missed the best 3 songs of the set - oh well.

Finally it was time for the band we'd all been waiting for and iTunes did a great build up on the big screens - counting down from 3 minutes before the band were on stage with clips of bands at the iTunes festival from the previous year. Definitely built the excitement and by the time we heard the opening bars of 'Intro' (the only

song they could have started with really!) we were screaming and clapping away.

Having only known about these guys for such a short time I didn't know all the songs by heart, but I could belt out a chorus or 6 and they put on an awesome show. The 2 singers were amazing live singers and even if you discount the lyrics of the songs - the music itself is incredible. Really, if you haven't heard of these guys - they only have 1 album out and it is SO worth a listen.

They played pretty much all the songs

from the album, along with a few I hadn't heard before (and I couldn't tell you what they were called I'm afraid) but I believe at least one was a funky house cover and kept the crowd going for the whole set to the point that they had barely left the stage before everyone was chanting for more. It was also refreshing to see a band who were so happy to be there - they said the last time they performed at the Roundhouse it was in the basement and they were genuinely thrilled to be on the main stage this time.

Highlights were VCR, Infinity (last song of set) and Stars (encore) but overall a fantastic and quite intimate gig - watch out for these guys, they're going to be huge!!