By Peter Quincy Ng
Photo credit: Peter Quincy Ng
La Roux – El Mocambo – July 31, 2009
Our favourite flame-haired Brit pulls together a red-hot concert in the scorching summer heat
Whoever said La Roux hasn’t quite made it across the Atlantic clearly wasn’t at the overly-packed show at Toronto’s good ol’ Mocambo. With nearly two hours before the start of the show people were already looking for tickets to try and see La Roux in what seemed to be the next Brit sensation. The overnight success was so quick that not a single scalper was to be seen in what was an overly sold-out show.
Anyway while the doors opened, people rushed to the bar and sat in El Mocambo’s folding chairs trying to relax and cool off from the heat using the venue’s industrial-size fans. At roughly 10 o’clock or so, local Toronto opener Opopo took to the the stage in what seemed to be a band of fresh-faced youngsters with slick, greasy hair and a drummer whose style could only be described as a hobo-chic-ethnic. Anyway, the band played on and despite the crowd getting fired-up for La Roux, the band was best described as mediocrity at best. Nothing too unique about each song with little to separate the same high-hat and snare drum beat in every single song. Although I do give them effort for trying and playing around with a multitude of electronic tools and even some sort of binocular/telescope-type contraction on stage, their seven-song ensemble left my ears ringing all-night from overly loud, uninspiring sound with extremely muddy vocals.
At 11:15 exactly with the fans cheering at the sound of a snare drum La Roux entered the stage. As she appeared behind the curtain, eccentrically dressed in a silk robe with an animal print shirt underneath with a microphone in hand, frontwoman Elly Jackson slowly sang her way to the front of the stage with “Tigerlily”. The crowd was absolutely ecstatic as the sound of the drum pads hit the room with a crushing sound of a thunderous vibrato. Elly followed with her first single released off French label Kitsuné, with her unique shrill complimented with the tropical sounds of “Quicksand” and the zip-zap noise of the synthesizers. Following the upbeat “Quicksand” she jumped into the slower, mellower ballad “Armour Love” and then took a moment to introduce herself. By that time, the industrial-strength fans were nothing more than a decoration as the room started to swelter with the humidity and the body heat radiating from legions of dancing fans caused La Roux to slow and catch her breath. After peeling off another layer of clothing, Elly shouted that “I’ll take it all off by the end of the night” (unfortunately that didn’t happen) and continued with “Reflections”. The sound softened up afterwards no longer deafening from the crushing bass and midrange and the crowd sung along while she sang on. Elly’s self-titled debut filled with easy sing-along lyrics made it easy for fans to followed as she pumped out hit after hit, while she pranced around dripping sweat as fans clapped and sang along to “I’m not your toy/This isn’t another boy meets girl.” The song recognition was quite high something I didn’t expect for what seemed originally to be a casual following as they joined in Elly for “As if by Magic” and “Colourless Colour”. Finally with her smash-hit “In for the Kill”, Elly literally tore off the roof as the fans basically took it from there singing along entirely from start to finish. The energy in the room was undeniable with “Fascination” following this only left room for her latest single “Bulletproof”. La Roux was literally standing in awe of the audience and was humbled by the hordes of fans that were mouthing word after word of her lyrics. By the time “Bulletproof” hit the stage, there was not a person in the room unmoved by the overwhelming scream of fans singing along to the chorus “This time baby I’ll be bulletproof”.
Although Elly has one amazing set of pipes her vocal register fell a bit short on the vocally demanding Quicksand, however in all aspects it was a more than respectable performance. The show was short yet sweet with no encore, which is not surprising with La Roux performing ten out of eleven possible tracks (all except “Cover Y from her eponymous debut. With the last song “Bulletproof” coming to a close, Elly turned around without looking back and jumped into a van jetting off to Montreal her next stop on her North American itinerary. While the night was finally over it seemed like most fans were busy chatting with each other as if that night was some bonding experience writing down emails, Facebook accounts and phone numbers. Elly definitely pulled her weight tonight, but in all other aspects the opener wasn’t particularly good and the venue fell short in terms of overall sound and was hot, muggy and bursting at the seam from overcrowded concertgoers.
Setlist
Tigerlily
Quicksand
Armour Love
Reflections are Protections
I’m Not Your Toy
As if by Magic
Colourless Colour
In for the Kill
Fascination