First Aid Kit/ Blue Roses/ Kill It Kid

The Lexington
28 July 2009

The Lex is one of those unfortunate locations where a certain amount of tension is generated around simply getting into the place. The ground floor bar is full of terribly fashionable types who always look totally relaxed; despite which there tends to be a lot of awkward shuffling around the entrance to the venue upstairs, especially once the performers have been seen to arrive.

Luckily the loitering period when everyone (but no-one!) was discreetly assessing the queue development allowed me to have a chat with Sarah Anderson, aka Sadie, the multi-instrumentalist Person Friday for Blue Roses' live shows, although this was mostly about her involvement with Chrome Hoof (see review for June 5th). With a different identity for each band, apparently it is sometimes a bit challenging at festivals when both bands play on the same day. No kidding!

The fussing around early upstairs access seemed to be about claiming the limited seating available rather than the more typical rush for Position A in front of the stage; once upstairs it was time for Kill It Kid, not previously on my radar.

VERY young, they gave us a set with a pronounced American country flavour, all fairly unrefined and with an open throated vocal style from lead singer Chris Turpin that has more in common with Antony Hegarty than might have been anticipated from a lad in a - surprise! - checked shirt. Energetic and fairly tuneful although not exactly sophisticated, they had some heads nodding as they fitted the vogueish general direction of Mumford & Sons; all pleasant enough but not exactly convincing.

Blue Roses played what has, on my fourth viewing, become a familiar set. Laura Groves was in fine voice, perhaps better than as seen at the ICA recently in support to St Vincent, with the usual meticulous accompaniment from her band. Sometimes close to being straight-down-the-line folk, the often uplifting harmonies and varied instrumentation move this far beyond a predictable range of folky references and although there are no huge surprises an elegant musicality was amply demonstrated, and clearly appreciated, as the venue was at its busiest while they played.


Movie credit: Someone else, somewhere else

First Aid Kit are even younger than KIK, at 15 and 18 (still? do these girls have birthdays?), and already have an unusual albatross to deal with. First and best known (720,000+ youtube plays) for an al-fresco cover of a Fleet Foxes song, it is still an obligatory part of their set and they have developed a bit of awkward schtick around introducing it with "This is for you, Fleet Foxes; it's a little gift from us" as seen on the video. It is a spine tingling performance, although not as good to these ears as Robin Pecknold's solo live version. The set is mainly taken from their enjoyable first album, although some songs do have slightly jarring themes for ones so young, and when Klara announced that "this is for all the housewives in the audience" the sea of 20-year-olds sniggered into their tattoos.

A lack of stagecraft is apparent with some pre-planned lines that were designed to engage with their London audience, but it was hard to tell whether they actually heard any of the suggestions about how they might spend their couple of days in town but anyway they spieled on, decrying their ability to take notes quickly enough. There was also a heavy hint before the 'last' song of the set that there would be more to follow, which was unfortunately timed as it came at the point when a number of folk had already decided it was time for the tube; as we had already been told what to expect, the atmosphere wasn't helped by a slightly perfunctory pre-encore break (is there a name for this?), although the girls were game and came back before the applause had evaporated. To conclude they played two beautiful new songs, and were rewarded with a proper ovation.