Fightstar at Newcastle Student Union

Reviewed by Mike Worthington

There’s something incredibly spirited about the way Fightstar play. Charlie Simpson never falters vocally nor fails to go through one song without furiously flicking his mop of hair around. He is clearly rocking out. The same it cannot be said, for the crowd. Although The Union would have proved a fantastic venue for FIghtstar to exhibit their rock based riffs, the venue was half full at best. No matter how energetic crowd favourites like ‘Mercury Summer’ and ‘Grand Unification Part 1’ were, the bands energy was seemingly lost on the eager faced fans of the front and the more cautious viewers from the back. In fairness to the band, their passion onstage helped compensate for lack of atmosphere but toward the end too many songs sounded the same. And you have to wonder whether Simpson was giving himself a headache with all that thrashing about. It begs the question, would Busted have boasted a bigger turn out? There were certainly enough Busted jokes in between songs - from the crowd only however. Fightstar certainly aim to please their fans, it’s just a shame enough of them weren’t there to return the favour.

La Roux at Newcastle Student Union

Reviewed by Mike Worthington

Admist a flurry of excited cheer and awe, a confident La Roux, brimming with swagger, strides onto the stage. A radiation of quiet confidence and straightfoward concentration seems to echo about her stage presence. She seems perfectly aware she’s not just like any other artist around at the moment. Tonight, she’s going for gold, or rather more adptly, going for the kill. It’s easy to see from the night’s opening song, ‘Tigerlily’, La Roux leaves other acts dead in the water. There’s an edge of brilliance, a subtle undercurrent of class that characterises tonight’s performance. La Roux reels the audience in, using a salvo of powerful, driven vocals accompanied by meaningful delivery, perhaps best demonstrated in ‘I’m Not Your Toy’. La Roux’s bold, striking hair in itself seems to scream “i’m not just like any other artist.” La Roux’s principle success has been affronted to ‘In For The Kill’ and ‘Bulletproof’, the latter being left till the very end of tonights set – and with incredible effect. The response from the crowd was raptoruous, mesmerising, and above all, satisfied. The limiting factor about La Roux is the fact she only has one album to her name, albeit a very successful one. Various interviews has confirmed that La Roux is in no hurry to write a new one, and it’s easy to see how this “i’ll do it my way” attitude is exuberated on stage. La Roux really stands out from the crowd, and not just because of her hair. La Roux takes the crowd wherever she wants, conveying the mood with her electro-pop magic. With a performance like tonight’s, few would deny La Roux is more than ‘Bulletproof’ on stage. She’s invincible.