Raise your arms the highest you can, so the whole universe will glow…

Last night I had the privilege of seeing M83 live at Scala in London, with The Domino State supporting; and oh how superb it all was. Of course there was a strong focus on the new album, Saturday=Youth, but they didn’t forget the old songs, mixing it up beautifully with Dead Cities and Before the Dawn Heals Us. As the rising drums, guitars and rhythm of “A Guitar and a Heart” crashed through the venue with ever increasing furor and energy, a shiver shot down my spine and I hoped it would never end.

Here is some crappy footage I shot on my camera just for my own nostalgic purposes. Note how the camera can’t hold its auto focus in the light levels, giving the impression I can’t focus anything.

Review by There Goes The Fear:

Normally the words shoegaze, pop, 80s, rave and enjoyable shouldn’t be put next to each other, let alone used to describe the same 90 minutes. However, those are just the words I’m going to use to describe last night’s M83 gig at London’s Scala.

Taking to a stage covered with enough cables to give even the most seasoned of electricians a heart attack, Anthony Gonzalez (who’s much smaller and more elflike in real life than I had realised…) made it clear it was his night, and with the help of a few supporting artists ploughed through an impressive selection of his work from the past 7 years.

Naturally, the focus of the evening was on new album Saturdays=Youth, with tracks like Couleurs, Graveyard Girl and Kim & Jessie getting some of the biggest cheers of the night. However, whilst his new pop direction was the reason Scala was so packed, he didn’t forget the diehard fans from his early days (and there were a few…), throwing in some harder dancier numbers which culminated in the encore with an almost full-on rave. Well, for about 5 minutes.

Shoegaze was the theme of the evening really though, with many songs blurring into one, and for the casual fan (like myself) it was easy to lose yourself in the music for 10 minutes, totally entranced by the teamwork and the skills of everyone.

The Hoxton Hotel (’the urban lodge‘) in London recently had a sale, where a lucky few could purchase rooms for £1 a night or £29 a night. Most came away with nothing, but Sam was lucky enough to not only get a room, but two consecutive nights on the weekend of her birthday! Fantastic!

Said weekend started last Friday, we each took the day off and took our quick and usual route into the centre; meeting outside Leicester Square, cases in tow, ready to be tourists for a couple of days. After apple juice and lunch in St James’ park we took the Northern Line to Old Street and checked in, electrified by the overwhelming trendiness that is both the hotel and surrounding area.

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Ah, its been a week now since I returned from the US, UTAH and the Westgate Resort in Park City. I’ve just about recovered from the 7 hour time difference, which was compounded by a 24 hour day of traveling including a harrowing down the mountain drive in heavy snow, two flight connections (Detroit and Minneapolis) and a 2 hour coach trip from Heathrow back to St Albans. I’m also not a Mormon.

Heading over appeared easier on paper, short flight to CDG, Paris then an 11 hour Air France flight to Salt Lake City (do not go to the Travelodge near Heathrow and certainly do not taste their food – if you must there is a nicer looking pub just around the corner). Looking online beforehand we noted the movies we wanted to watch, etc. Unfortunately the flight was with an Air France partner, Delta, without a sophisticated in flight entertainment system – instead giving us in the aisle airings of the awful “Little Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” and “Kung Fu Panda”, leaving 7 hours to spare. No doubt the complimentary Kronenbourg 1664 helped the trip go a little faster. All in all it felt like a short haul flight – just really really long. Leaving the dull London 12C we were treated to a basking 88F on arrival, where we picked up our 4×4 Suzuki rental and proceeded towards Park City in the mountains.

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