Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Lily Allen (Support– The Bird and the Bee), Hammersmith Apollo 12/3/07 A famous old venue in a part of town so threatened by future music evaporation was the setting, and also the star’s home turf. With this, the final stop of Lily’s UK Tour before she jets off to the country that so widely accepted her. Having missed out on home recognition at the Brits, self-styled pop ‘Chav’ Lily gave a stormer of a performance to a highly appreciative crowd. The audience were mainly contrived of the under-age, sadly support act The Bird and the Bee were probably quite wasted on such a selection of music fans but as soon as an illuminated Allen appeared they certainly found their voice. Kicking off aptly with ‘LDN’ she stormed the stage with her impressive vocal range and a swagger so typical of her style. Her rebellious nature immediately evident, flouting the venue’s ‘No Smoking’ policy by lighting up a trademark ciggy upon her arrival. The crowd loved it, and there were a few tongue-in-cheek remarks on the pop world, notably Amy Winehouse and of course, Cheryl Tweedy with the “tribute” song of the same name. At past gigs, Lily has complained publicly on her mySpace site of the fans just not giving enough energy to her performance, she won’t have been disappointed on this occasion. Sing-a-longs during songs were a noticeable feature of the gig to favourites such as ‘Alfie’, ‘Smile’ and new single ‘These Things’. And in fact the online music innovator got a mention from possibly its greatest fan when Lily asked “how many of you here are from mySpace? /it’s great innit!” However her thoughts on the ruling power are not quite so encouraging “I hate politicians, Tony Blair’s a w***er”. Even the most ardent anti-Allen fan would find it hard not to enjoy one of her shows. Her performance is galvanizing and the support band is a fantastically talented one, their collaboration with Allen’s sharp lyrics and angelic deliverance is a joy to witness. She isn’t afraid to try new styles either, the crowd were treated to 3 cover versions- ‘Oh My God’ by Kaiser Chiefs, ‘Heart of Glass’ by Blondie and encore ‘Blank Expression’ by the Specials were the three this West London audience were treated to, the latter probably the better one. In essence it was a surprisingly long set-list from Allen and after recently complaining of repeating her material, there were three new songs included in the 16 strong-set (3 song encore). Album track ‘Everything’s Just Wonderful’ was the highlight of the evening with ‘Smile’ a close second but overall it was a raw and rousing performance from a slightly inebriated Lily. Next up is the 16 date US Tour before she plays Coachella and Bonnaroo before heading back to these shores for her Glastonbury and V performances. On this evidence it certainly seems as if the local girl is going to be around a lot longer to slag off pop trash. Lily Allen, I salute you. 8/10 CM Text Box: Links and affiliates Contact Me