29/10/2008
For the second week running, Planet Notion brings you a run-down of the latest episode of Later Live with Jools Holland. Episode 7 featured performances from artists including Grace Jones, Razorlight, and Akon. An extended edition of the show will be broadcast this Friday.
GRACE JONES: There’s something mesmerising about Grace Jones. I wouldn’t say there’s a major attraction there, at least not one I’m conscious of. Yet despite the thinning voice and obvious signs of age, she’s a natural born performer. Plus it kind of made the start of the show fairly exciting when she started lifting her skirt to expose her practically bare arse. Not as in sexually excited, but in a “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS GOING ON HERE” kind of way.
RAZORLIGHT: If anyone classes Razorlight as rotten eggs for the way they sound, and would put them in the rotten egg basket instead of the good egg basket, then chances are you might decide to put Razorlight in the good egg basket now. Unless their faces piss you off, in which case you can’t polish a turd in the same way you can’t make a rotten egg a good one. Their first performance of the night seemed to scrape into the good egg section, but once you cracked that egg open it was a bit of a rotten egg after all. The good egg bit came later...
SEU JORGE: Seu Jorge starred in City of God. Good film. It was pissing it down with rain as he performed on Jools Holland, I could hear it battering the windows in the living room. They played this kind of Brazilian Samba-Rock type sound. Interesting contrast, the rain and the sunny music. At least that’s what I got from it. There was a guy in a Brazil tracksuit, a green tracksuit top. I wouldn’t say he was fat, but he was short and stout, like the teapot. He was dancing like Bez, really going for it. Then he started playing harmonica like it was raping his mouth. It was an okay performance.
THE INTERVIEW: Jools interviewed Grace Jones at this point. He seemed pretty infatuated with her; said that she has an uncanny ability to mesmerize men. He also asked what her advice would be to women, seeing as she's a style icon and seems to mesmerise people. Grace's advice for people was: “DON’T SAY IT, DO IT!” So I went and got myself a tall glass of Raki.
AKON: I don’t understand Akon. I don’t understand him at all. He kind of sings like he’s having his balls squashed by the tin man. But for once he sung a song that was somehow easier on the ear. What made the performance all the more interesting was the guy in the kilt. There was this guy in a kilt, one of the dancers, and he was dancing on a box! I was kind of thinking about what would happen if the box fell over. Sadly it didn't.
GERAINT WATKINS: Jools said he met this guy on Bob Dylan’s radio show. Jools always likes to name-drop. This was probably the performance of the night. Big booming double-bass and country-rock, only leaning way more to the rock side. A kind of blue-grass sound, but with roots! Plus Geraint looked like a tired drunk. Eyes closed and smiling. When he played the guitar and really went for it, the guitar really sang to me. It was a great little guitar solo, simple, raw and very stunning.
RAZORLIGHT: Razorlight again. Only this time I couldn’t fault them. This was a way better egg than the one that turned out to be a rotten one on closer inspection. And believe me; admitting Borrell can actually sing is a tough thing to do. It pains me to say it, but he CAN, and anyone who mocks or curses me, can’t mock or curse me any more than I’ve mocked and cursed myself already. But it’s true, and you’ll have to watch on Friday if you want the proof.
GRACE JONES: The show culminated with Grace Jones, again. She had this weird dress on, like a silver-grey parachute, and these fans were blowing it and it was going EVERYWHERE! It was floating around and all she had on underneath were these leather mini-shorts or knickers or something. She stood on a raised platform so that EVERYONE could see her - Grace Jones - the star of the show. Seu Jorge and the Brazilians danced in a row, including the guy who danced like Bez. And that was how it ended.
Later Live with Jools Holland is broadcast every Tuesday at 22:00 on BBC2. The extender Later with Jools Holland show is broadcast every Friday at 12:35(am) on BBC2. To visit the official website and catch up on the show, CLICK HERE! |
