It’s very nearly the end of August. Whether this brings joy or despair to your heart probably depends on whether your child is climbing up the walls with summer holiday boredom or whether they’re living their best life in pyjamas and not looking forward to the return.
Bitta both here, gotta be honest.
But on the upside, we’ve crammed quite a lot of fun into this last week or so. Some of it with kids, and some of it without. All of which has resulted in this very contrived but alphabetically pleasing post title.
So, the first thing that happened was the “Feel” bit and that might be the most contrived bit of this whole title. Specifically, it was the Lemonheads that we were feeling as they played through their sixth studio album at the Electric Ballroom. I was a bit concerned about how the gig might go, having seen reviews of their Dublin show, where Evan Dando had argued with the audience and walked off mid-set. Luckily, we got a slightly more docile version of Evan and he completed the full set – the album plus an encore full of hits. Were all those songs played at the correct speed and with all the words present and correct? No. But was there a beginning, middle and end to the set? Yeah, kinda. The middle was a bit improvisational but there were times at the beginning and end when muscle memory kicked in and he played the songs almost perfectly. Kudos to the rest of the band who heroically kept things going whenever it looked ropey. It felt more like an immersive rock n roll experience than watching a professional singer perform….but did we Feel the Lemonheads? Yeah, I can say that we did.
More feelings were present the next day, as VK and I joined the crowds in Argyll Street to watch the balcony scene of “Evita”. We were out shopping for new term clothes (uniform and casuals for VK, college clothes for Roo) and timed our late lunch at Five Guys very well. We got there around half 3, had time to eat and have a couple of drink refills before slipping out to watch. Roo wasn’t that bothered so he kept our table while we went to have a look. And when I say “look”, I really mean “listen” as we were way too late to get anywhere near being able to see. We briefly spotted Rachel Ziegler when going back into Five Guys but you cannot stand in that spot to watch as security will move you on. So we stood in the crowd and listened for the 5 minutes of so it took. I probably wouldn’t recommend going into London for the experience alone but it worked well when combined with a shopping day. It was strangely moving – having been very sceptical about this whole Jamie Lloyd concept, I was then slightly embarrassed to find a small tear rolling down my cheek. I think it’s partly that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music is very evocative, especially these songs that I’ve known my entire life. But there was also an element of being part of a crowd of people experiencing a Moment together, even though I had been the biggest doubter going. I know the song specifically says not to cry but sometimes you just have to lean into the theatre kid nerdiness and embrace the feelz.
Talking of theatre kids, we saw Gatsby again the day after the Evita outing. There isn’t much to say about Gatsby that I didn’t covered in my last review but I will say that the £80 seats are far more comfortable than the £20 seats were. Not that I paid £80 for them – thank you London Theatre Kids Week – but you could definitely tell the difference. Which meant that I enjoyed it quite a lot more this time round. It’s not on for much longer so it’s definitely worth rushing to get a ticket if you enjoy a bit of razzle-dazzle.
All of which brings us to the “Club de” bit. This was another childfree jaunt to Club de Fromage’s daytime party, which we previously went to last June. I would say that a lot of the same elements popped up again – the singalong to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, the dance competition to “Reach for the Stars” and, of course the Fromage national anthem of “YMCA”. So as fun as some of those things are, I think I’d need to know there was something fresh on the menu if we went a third time. There was an indie room upstairs, which is more my kinda scene, but the Britpop tracks were the mainstream kinda ones (including “Girls and Boys” twice) and the rest of the indie was more 80s than 90s, despite the 90s-themed marketing. I’m not saying we didn’t have fun – we danced a lot and drank a bit and a good time was had – but the indie playlist wasn’t quite up to D2K standards and the main room was a bit similar to last time.
But anyway, I’m tired. I’ve eaten at Honest Burger twice this week, Five Guys twice, a late night Popeyes in Camden and somewhere along the line I’ve done a couple of days of work as well. Are we ready for September? Probably not but it’s not like we can stop it creeping up on us….so brace yourselves. Term is about to start, whether you’re ready or not. And to illustrate it, here’s a picture of the kids from “Evita” day, looking like they’re studying hard but really they’re turning colouring sheets into “Undertale” memes. Happy September everyone!
