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La Roux Captivates L.A. Audience At Club Nokia

Amanda Tran, Jessica Youseffi |
July 16, 2010 | 7:09 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporters

Exaggerated shoulder pads, synthpop beats and a retro set. For a brief 50-minutes, La Roux’s concert Thursday night allowed its audience a taste of what the 80’s music scene was like, while offering a style completely unique to the band.

The British electropop band is on its U.S. gold tour and has already become a sensation, selling out tickets to its concert at the Nokia Theatre in only a week. It’s no wonder: if you own a radio it’s impossible to not hear the band’s U.S. break out single “Bulletproof,” but as I discovered last night, the glory most definitely doesn’t end there.

My friend bought tickets long before I recognized the name, but each song was infectious, and the freshness of the group’s tunes, coupled with the catchy lyrics was enough to demand my butt to shake and my feet to move.

The edgy 22-year old lead singer, Elly Jackson, is a novelty in her own right, and has drawn a lot of attention for her self-proclaimed androgynous look, offering fans a refreshing kind of femininity. Personally I’ve had enough with the Ke$ha look-alikes, and if a girl wants to dress a bit boyish, and wear space-age clothes, I say thank you!

Though she keeps her sexuality somewhat of a mystery, avoiding labels of straight or gay, her alternative style draws a large queer following, and last night was definitely the place to be in L.A.’s gay scene, where I even met Whitney Mixter, the new TV star from “The Real L Word,” along with her posse of hot lesbians.

The crowd Thursday was said to be less obsessive than the one that attended the band’s El Rey performance last October before the band made it big in the States. Still, the Nokia Theatre was filled with screaming fans.

After a long wait during which a mediocre DJ tried to fill the time, La Roux entered against a stunning backdrop reminiscent of the “Metropolis” film poster, which projected a slightly creepy video of Jackson’s face painted in gold, singing along to the lyrics.

The band opened up with Tigerlily, as Jackson strutted on stage looking futuristic with her signature gravity-defying quiff and a long gothic cloak. The pasty, skinny lead singer was surprisingly quite a striking figure on stage, and captured the audience with her impossibly high-pitched vocals and sharp moves, dancing like nobody’s business.

Missing from the stage is the invisible other half of La Roux, Ben Langmaid, who prefers to lurk in the shadows of the studio, avoiding any of the limelight.

With only a dozen released songs, the band sang tunes from its self-titled 2009 debut album, and covered the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” in a dance-music style, leaving very little trace of the original version.

The musical love child of David Bowie, and Prince, La Roux goes beyond regular electropop songs as its lyrics are not just fun to dance to but are also pretty smart and poetic, such as the touching lyrics of Armour Love, sung over a dreamy slow-tempo song.

Throughout the show Jackson repeatedly apologized to her fans that she’s not delivering her best performance, as she was sick with the flu.

“You can tell how rock and roll I am that I’m drinking tea on stage,” said Jackson.

Though at first it was hard for me to detect that there was anything wrong with her voice, by the end of the night her throat clearly took its beating as Jackson sounded like she was struggling and in pain. Part of the closing song Bulletproof was backed by a track of her vocals. The crowd, however, appeared to love the experience, as they continued to scream hysterically.

The only downside to the evening was that the set only lasted 50-minutes, and I wanted more.

Here are my favorite songs, listen for yourself and enjoy.

I’m Not Your Toy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRm53PnBkp8&feature=related

In For The Kill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32IGdt4pmGY

Armour Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAKmfO3v8ew

--Jessica Youseffi


London synth/electropop group La Roux performed a short, but sweet 50-minute set to a sold out crowd at Club Nokia Thursday night.

La Roux, meaning "red-haired one" in French, is comprised of flame-haired singer/songwriter Elly Jackson and keyboardist/producer Ben Langmaid, who does not participate in live performances. At the L.A. Live venue, Jackson was accompanied by two keyboardists, Michael Norris and Mickey O'Brien, and drummer William Bowerman.

After waiting close to two hours for the main act's arrival, La Roux made their grand entrance to the ecstatic crowd of adoring fans. With the flashing, techno lights behind her, the androgynous 22-year-old frontwoman commanded full attention as she shimmied across the stage singing "Tigerlily."

Although La Roux has already become widely successful in the UK, they have only recently begun to achieve recognition in the U.S. with their smash hit, "Bulletproof." Nevertheless, the audience followed Jackson as she went through each song in La Roux's self-titled album, effortlessly belting out the upbeat lyrics to "I'm Not Your Toy" and "Fascination."

Jackson took time toward the beginning to apologize for not feeling well and singing sub par, but I could hear no difference as she flawlessly hit the intricate range of vocal melodies. The crowd loved her all the same, dancing and zealously screaming during every pause and song.

Although the group's slower songs started to lag and lose momentum, the group revived the audience's energy with their cover of The Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb," making the '60s hit into their own.

Halfway through the set, Jackson asked, "Can you all to do something for me?" When the crowd readily said yes, she said, "Why are you so excited? I could be asking for sexual favors."

Her intended favor was for the crowd to dance, which they did willingly as Jackson belted fan favorites such as "In for the Kill," the group's next single to be released in the U.S.

La Roux reentered the stage to perform their hit single "Bulletproof." Jackson held the microphone out to the crowd, the audience needing no help to finish the chorus.

Despite arriving late and performing a set lasting less than an hour, Jackson still delivered and has proven to be quite the show-stopper. With her confident swagger and bold attitude, she's shown she can very well pull anything off.

--Amanda Tran

 

To reach reporter Jessica Youseffi, click here.

To reach reporter Amanda Tran, click here.

Photo credit: Amanda Tran.



 

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