The perfect steampunk venue. A story laden with mystery, unfolding through song. A stage bursting with beautiful and talented people. Not one, but two intervals in which to consume exquisite home made chocolates and three kinds of absinthe. The best encore ever. And a magnificent after party. Five stars. Make that ten stars.
The Raconteuse
The Scientist
The Doctor
The Magician
The Fugitive
If you missed out on a ticket this time, keep watching the Clockwork Quartet site for new releases and upcoming live shows…
The excellent Clockwork Quartet will be performing three live shows at the Horse Hospital, from the 15th to the 17th of October. There will be steampunk, storytelling, absinthe and chocolate. Buy tickets from their site, or take a look at the Facebook event. I strongly encourage you to go.
So, the Foundry is to be pulled down and replaced with an “art’otel”. Such is progress. I’m particularly upset because the building proudly wears one of my favourite space invaders. Isn’t that a good enough reason for it to be listed?
The Foundry, in all its grubby glory
Apart from the absurdity of tearing down a thriving artists’ bar to replace it with a fake art hotel, it seems particularly galling that there is a derelict site two hundred metres down the road just begging to be redeveloped.
Very obviously derelict
This site has been derelict as long as I can remember, and is almost certainly structurally unsound (it must be, or it would have been turned into luxury apartments by now). Couldn’t some clever developer buy it up, perhaps preserve the facade, and turn it into an interesting destination? That, perhaps, would be a fitting “gateway to South Shoreditch” – not some incongruous new build eighteen storey high rise.
Rant over.
There is, of course, a Facebook group to join if you feel so inclined. It won’t help save the Foundry, but it might assuage your feelings of guilt and/or helplessness.
Deerhoof were, as ever, amazing. I last saw them at ULU last December, and was so impressed I couldn’t wait to see them again. This time the sound levels were better, I was closer to the front, and they played with more energy than ever.
Guitars over heads.
Stomping.
You know it's been good when the band is horizontal by the end of the show.
Furthermore, the support acts were good too. Anabel’s Poppy Day were perhaps an acquired taste, but Rumspringa were instantly mesmerizing. They have a MySpace, but you can also download the free EP from the Rumspringa website. I racked my brains trying to remember where I had heard them before, then realised: they provided the soundtrack (minus lyrics) to one of my favourite animations of 2008.
I strongly recommend seeing Rumspringa live – there may be only two of them, but they pack a fair punch.
As some of you may know, the 15th to the 21st of June is Refugee Week. This year, LBi has developed a social media campaign for the British Red Cross, encouraging people to show their support for refugees by looking beyond the label.
If you can, please spare a couple of minutes to spread the word by changing your status on Facebook, Twitter and all your online profiles. To find out more, visit www.lookbeyondthelabel.org
So, I went to White Mischief with the Clockwork Quartet. Ed bought lots of lovely VIP tickets and was kind enough to grant me one. It was a whirlwind of steampunk, music, dance, trapeze artistry, burlesque, escapology, gypsy bands, comedy, The Correspondents, and much more. I would show you some pictures, but sadly, most of mine failed to capture the full splendour of the evening.
Instead, I will show you what happened on our way to the Scala. We found this:
Sir Nigel Gresley
As far as I can ascertain from Google, Sir Nigel Gresley broke the steam speed record on the 23rd of May 1959, reaching 112mph. The appearance at King’s Cross station was part of a celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of this event. What more perfect backdrop could there have been for an impromptu photo shoot?
The Clockwork Quartet and Sir Nigel Gresley
Incidentally, the Clockwork Quartet gets a mention in the NME this week – Steampunk is number 5 of their 49 Reasons to be Cheerful!
