"What's This?!! .. Oh Shit! .. I'm feeling happy .."First of all, hats off to the venue - the re-vamped Scala in Kings Cross is a very decent 1000-person auditorium set on several terraces, so good views all round. The VIP room up in the balcony makes it a good choice for showcase gigs too, I guess.
Second, titfers doffed to Jeff Hill and his fellow Grey Race, who played their own set and went on to play as backing for the rest of the bill. Rufus Wainwright fans will recognise Jeff from the Release The Stars tour (among others).
Bravo to the main man, Teddy Thompson, and you really shouldn't need me to tell you that his most famous parents are Richard and Linda Thompson. Thompson/Wainwright gigs often have some family connection - tonight Teddy mentioned that his mother was in the audience, which prompted shout-outs for Linda from the gentlemen who had come along to see "son of Richard". Teddy has also inherited/absorbed his father's dry wit into his act - his mother had brought him "loads of clean underwear" he joked (well, it's what mothers do).
Relaxed and confident, Teddy played an accomplished, rocking set, drawn mostly from his latest album A Piece of What You Need. He used the Motown trick of playing the same song, the brillian 'In My Arms', first and last - and no-one was complaining. Singing with Grey Race as backing, or solo, each song was fantastic - those fans of James Blunt (the first and last time he appears in this blog - ever) are in for a real treat. There's another tour in early 2009 - why not catch him at Shepherd's Bush Empire in February?
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