Lily Allen and Miami Horror at Festival Hall : Gig Review

Pint-sized pop-pixie Lily Allen, shocked her fans all around the globe last year when she announced she was ‘quitting’ live music to focus on acting and opening a record label. Met with mixed reactions by fans and non-fans alike, Allen’s reputation for being a loud mouth is ironic in which she actually wants to quieten her lifestyle down.

Leading up to her final show at London’s O2 Arena on March 7^th this year, Allen thankfully had an Australian tour booked in her schedule, her last official international performances before calling it quits.  Melbourne was lucky enough to host this final appearance. Fittingly so, Melbourne was also Allen’s first Australian host back in 2007 on the Big Day Out tour.

Festival Hall is a venue I have mixed feelings for. Of the two previous shows I had seen there, one was amongst the pit on the floor ten rows back from the stage, the other was stuck in the seats up in the corner. Both were so-so experiences. So for Lily Allen, I made it my mission to be front row at the barrier. Succeeding, it allowed me to experience a Festival Hall show in the best way possible.

A success story of 2009, Miami Horror opened the nights proceedings with the brand of 80’s disco pop, mixed with psychedelic riffs. Having played Triple J’s One Night Stand, and selling out many of their headline shows in 2009, Miami Horror are a brilliant band, but they seem to have been a bit misplaced in the support slot of Lily Allen.

Allen’s previous shows in 2009 saw Cassette Kids take opening slot honours, and I feel that they were perfectly suited back then, whereas Miami Horror were not. That said, they didn’t fall flat in their performance.

Miami Horror seamlessly mixed three, at times even four songs together into one long dance mix. Included in these mixes were Summerfest 86,  Make You Mine and Don’t You Be On With Her. With an album due for release soon, Watch Out For Miami Horror.

With Festival Hall completely sold out, this was Lily Allen’s first all ages show in a long time (not including the Big Day Out Festival.) A sea of fans on the 18+ floor, some clearly with fake ID’s waited tentatively for Ms Allen to finally grace us with her presence.

At approximately 9pm, the lights went out and the opening riff’s to Everyone’s At It began to fill the venue, but no sign of Allen. Thirty seconds or so later, she finally arrives on stage, and it’s a welcome sight. The song is an excellent opener, with Allen taking distortion duties at the end of the song, taking a remote panel and fiddling with the amps to give the track its recognisable finale.

Allen is not one for being bland, wearing a sparkling sequin gown, and, well, no pants. It’s just one of her many wardrobe changes throughout the night.

Backtracking to her first album, LDN get’s an early performance, with its undeniably catchy and toe tapping intro. The set is to consist of Allen’s greatest hits, B-Sides, and cover songs, mainily tunes from her #1 album, It’s Not Me It’s You.

Playing four back to back from album It’s Not Me It’s You were all leading up to a surprise cover. Back To The Start and Who’d Have Known were early additions to the set, as well as slow tempo track I Could Say. Allen’s single, and fan favourite 22 was received with much cheers of approval, but the biggest surprise of the night was yet to come.

Those who follow Allen’s music extensively would be aware that she once covered The Kook’s hit Naive. For her final show in Melbourne, we as an audience were lucky enough to have Allen perform this song. The reception was phenomenal, a girl behind me saying “I think I might cry!”

Rightfully so, of the four times I have seen Ms Allen perform, this was Lily at the top of her game… and it wasn’t even one of her songs!

Performing He Wasn’t There (another highlight) as well as an acoustic version of Littlest Things. Allen, despite suffering from a bout of gastro (making the fact known as she had to stop and clear her throat mid song, handling the mishap with pure professionalism), was well and truly in full form.

Another B-Side, a surprising performance of Kabul Shit was in my opinion a brilliant addition to the set. Whereas many fans were here for Allen’s radio songs, it was nice to hear some of the more obscure tracks from Allen’s catalogue as many people around me scratched their heads in confusion, wondering where this song came from.

The Fear was another highlight, but for a popular single, I felt that it was given a very low key performance. That said, it was still performed in excellent fashion. Alright, Still track Smile saw Allen bring her friend Professor Green to the stage to help rap with her at the conclusion of the song with a cover of Be Good To Me, retitled Be Good To Green. It was out of place from Allen’s usual performance, but it was actually really well done.

Professor Green, a rapper from the UK is sure to break out into the mainstream music scene inevitably. Speaking with him earlier before the show, he told me he plans to have his album out soon, and hopes to join the Big Day Out tour in 2011 after performing with Allen at 2010’s Big Day Out, before he promptly headed off to the pub.

Allen’s encore saw her covering Britney Spears Womanizer. Once again, there was no lip syncing in this performance, instead, a full-on heart racing rendition of the track. A big middle finger in the air was dedicated to all the hates, liars, judgers and bigots in the world, as Lily said, “We can’t go out and have fun anymore without being judged,” launching into F**k You.

A sea of hands sticking it to the man brought a smile to Lily’s face.

As the night came to an end, Lily asks, “Do you like country music?” performing her finale, the wonderful Not Fair. At seven or so minutes long, the finale of Not Fair saw Allen reprise the end from the lyric, ‘Oh I lie in the wet patch  in the middle of the bed…’ to conclude the song in a faster tempo than previously performed.

Despite an incredibly short set (just under 70 minutes) and tickets priced at $92, there was a small amount of disappointment, the only possible explanation being because Lily is ill. That said, it didn’t hinder her performance. As a long time fan, I was glad to hear song’s I didn’t think I would normally hear from Ms Allen.

Sadly, this is the so-called end for Lily’s music career.  In an age where music is lip synced, and not even written by the artists, Lily Allen is truly a breath of fresh air in the industry.

She writes all her lyrics, she sings all her songs, and she isn’t afraid to stand up to those her persecute her music because she sings about the real things in life, whether it be her past drug life, her sex life, male impotence or even just telling the persecutors and haters of the world to get fucked.  Allen does it in style, and doesn’t give a damn if you don’t like it.

Lily Allen has charisma, style, a phenomenal voice, and the talent. She’s a pint sized pop pixie with a personality to boot, and it’s well and truly music’s loss to see her go.

Farewell Lily Allen, it’s been a pleasure, and we’re missing you already.