Subject: Liam Finn
Place: The Cross Kings, London
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2008.
Camera: Sony Ericsson K800i phone.
There were four bands on the bill -- two upstairs, two downstairs in the cellar bar -- but we were there to see just one person. He was the last on stage so we had to wait until 11pm before he strutted his stuff in front of a small, enthusiastic crowd. But he was wandering around the venue beforehand, drinking at the bar, and later on setting up his musical equipment, which is how T took this picture.
(I have to point out that I was too shy to approach him, although T kept egging me on to "go up and say hello" and "go and tell him you remember when he was born"!! Umm, I don't think so.)
He was only on stage for 30 minutes, but what a powerful, energetic, frenetic, chaotic, mesmirising, full-on 30 minutes it turned out to be!
In one brief moment between songs, T, with tongue firmly in cheek, says "can you turn it up a notch, Liam?" And what do you know, he bloody well rises to the challenge and just when you think he cannot possibly have one more ounce of energy or passion he throws himself into the performance even more! Honestly, it was awesome.
Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention the wonderful EJ Barnes, who was as equally energetic on stage. She played the electric harp, did a bit of percussion and belted out vocals in her amazingly powerful voice.
It was a great gig, if way too short. The best bit is we get to see him again next week, when he performs his own concert at Cargo in Shoreditch.
