Back to London this Easter weekend to see Groove Armada play with their live band for the last time not only in Brixton but (apparently) ever. The show was billed as a late-night special bank-holiday show. So with a 9pm start time for the support acts and GA due to take to the stage at 11pm, this one was a long night! The day building up to this was long. As I expected it to be. I was purposefully not doing anything with the day so that I would have the energy required for potentially six hours of standing up. Unfortunately, nobody told my plan to my insomnia or my anxiety which had me up and awake from around 8am. Spent the majority of the morning listening to the noisy as hell housekeeping staff make their way up and down the corridors. Knocking thrice on my door, even though the ‘do not disturb’ sign was clearly hung on the door.

I chilled out / rested for the day and around came 6pm finally when I was planning to leave to head over to Brixton. My journey started with the bus ride the two or so stops to Kings Cross then a long walk down into the bowels of the Underground station which is quite literally a maze down there. Finally arriving on the Victoria line platform with a tube presenting itself to me. On I hopped and sat down. Some 20 minutes later I arrived in Brixton and found my way to the surface via the lifts.

First up was some food, so I found the road with the restaurant on that I was intending to go to, DF Taco’s, and I looked in the window – it was empty aside from one couple. – Always a good sign when somewhere is empty right… Regardless I found myself walking straight in and asking for a table for one. Seated I was instructed on how to place an order, via the app, even though the restaurant was empty and the counter literally in front of me. I ordered the chicken tacos with some fries and nachos. The nachos were… cold and crunchy, the fries were hot and unsalted and the tacos were spicier than I thought they would be, but very tasty and actually very nice. I’d ordered two beers which went down just fine and then it was on to dessert. I ordered some of those chorizo things.. with a chocolate dip. They were nice, very filling and I couldn’t finish the portion.

Sat there for a while collecting my thoughts before heading over to the venue for the gig. The Brixton Academy. When I arrived there were people queueing. I didn’t think there would be due to CoVID and the tickets the way they are today, but the line went the entire length of the building and around the back. Standing in the line seeing more people arriving after me, some tipsy fool shouted on the way past “oh my god everybody is old” – the cheeky sod. The make up of the crowd was good however, there were some younger ones there for sure but a good selection of older folks who have followed the music for the past 25 years for sure.

The queue moved quite quickly in the end with the surprise at the end being the sniffer dogs sniffing for drugs followed by the ticket scanning scrum and the full on body frisking to get through the doors and into the venue. All passed for me without incident. I was inside. I had done it. Regardless of anything else from here on in, I was inside Brixton Academy, at a gig, alone. Objective achieved. £35 of the £150 spent on tickets for the two nights of the shows actually made use of. So the weekend wasn’t a total bust.

Next thing, find my way inside and remember what the venue looks like. Much like I recall it from the seven years ago that I was last there, at the same venue seeing ironically the very same artist, Groove Armada. When I arrived inside the first warm-up act was already on the stage, she was a DJ playing some generic house music. It was good to arrive when I did as I got to see the venue for a while before it filled up. I embarrassed the opportunity and went and stood down at the front of the stage, right down in the pit, where Brixton Academy slopes down towards the front. Stood there for a few minutes and took a picture.

Then I made the trek back up the hill towards the bar to get a drink. I ordered a Jack Daniels and Coke thinking it would be a pint of coke with a splash of JD. Of course not. Tiny, fiddly little plastic cup. I was shaking at that point getting my breath back after getting to the venue and adjusting to the heat inside. Scanned my card and it was declined… Ok, thinking I’d hit my limit of contactless for the day I inserted it and entered my pin, declined, declined, declined. Tried my credit card, declined instantly. At this point the nerves were really getting to me and I told the unhelpful bartender to forget it. I was about to walk away when a fellow gig-gower stood next to me and asked the bartender to put the drink on his card.. The stranger ended up paying for the drink I ordered and then proceeded to give the drink to me. – This random act of kindness witnessed at a gig in London… This changed the feeling of the night for me. He told me his name and that of his partner, and we talked for a minute about how unhelpful the bartender was and how it must have been his machines. I thanked him for the drink and he said to have one on him. An extremely generous act of kindness. To whoever you were, you know who you were, thank you again and cheers.

After that I found my way to a dark corner, found something to lean on and took a sip of my drink. Without which I would have been drinkless for the entire night as of course they were not accepting cash at all. I ironically didn’t see the guy again for the rest of the night, lost in the sea of faces of people enjoying themselves. Finally the first support act finished and on came the second one, a very famous DJ I’d never heard of. He played songs too. I’d never heard them either. The venue in the meantime was filling up nicely. I was downstairs in the general standing area and it was filling up, almost right to the doors. A group of four youngsters came in and asked if I would mind taking their photograph, which I did, all good. There was my random act of kindness!

Shortly after that a young lady came and stood literally right in front of me, but she noticed me and apologised and stood to my side, then started talking to me. Asking me questions about how long the night goes on for and who’s playing, she was not a big fan apparently. We had a chat for a while and occasionally her boyfriend came to be with here, spoke to / argued with her for a few minutes then disappeared off into the crowd again. Another random guy was extremely into his dancing, he was moving around the venue doing the same dance over and over again. Happy people. Then came the drunk dude offering everyone pills. Of course, there’s always at least one. – Little did they know I couldn’t get a fucking drink from the bar let alone anything else even if I’d wanted to. – How did they get in, passed the sniffer dogs and the frisking, and where were they hiding the drugs…

Finally about 11pm, actually a little later than that start time, Groove Armada walked on to the stage. I’d say to much fanfare, but really no, not to much fanfare to be honest. They started playing with a track called “The Girls Say” before launching into two songs from Black Light “Look me in the eye Sister” and “I Wont Knee” both featuring Saint Saviour with whom they have previously featured on tours with the live band. The music they were playing was tight as ever with the drummer going to town and not holding back at all. The music sounded good. The vocals were not so clear. They were using a sound system which was spreading the sound around the room, it was some special feature of this tour, except, it didn’t work very well. You could only hear half of the vocals. It just made them sound kinda bland overall, which was a shame as you could see the energy coming from them very clearly.

Song four was when I decided to move from where I was originally standing, and I relocated to the left side of the venue to see if it was any better, it wasn’t. The distinctive beats of “Fogma” came on and the venue was jumping. The next guest singer arrived on the stage, I can’t remember his name, but they guy who sings usually on Fogma. Next up was “My Friend” and “Song for Mutya” and a couple more I didn’t know or recognise. Generally they played well, they always have as a live band. They do themselves so much injustice as being just DJ’s so it will be a shame that they say (at least) that they will not play as a live band anymore. Saint Saviour was on form too.

For me it was the 360 degree sound.. It just didn’t work, except for the first song it was used on, which was probably more to do with the song than the system. “I see you baby” just works. They played I would say more newer stuff than older tunes all in all and less than 20 in the total set-list. According to other reviews I have read, most seem to agree with me in the fact that the group were bringing the energy as they always do as a live band, but the hardware while technically impressive, didn’t work as well as it could have and in the end, ended up dampening down the sound and to a point the general atmosphere. I admit, I did leave before the end of the show. The will and energy just wasn’t in me to stay for the whole thing. But apparently, according to the setlist and other reviews, I only missed a 4-song encore. Disappointing to say the least. Following GA leaving the stage, there was another support artist? – wtf was that about?

Anyway, leaving the venue I was glad to get some air and immediately went to try my card to make sure it was still working – worked fine, so I am putting the issues experienced down to the machine used inside the venue. I headed towards the tube, not expecting to make the last one back but it was there on the platform, awaiting me when I got down there. No waiting time, off it went. Before-long I was back at Kings Cross and trying to navigate to the surface. Found out where the bus stop was that I needed to save me walking back to the hotel, and proceeded to wait, longer than i’d been on the train. It was gone midnight by that point and I was ready & eager to get back to the room and get some sleep. Had I have been at the venue with a friend as planned, I might have stuck out the whole six hours at the venue, but as it was, I’d seen enough and had enough. The sights you see outside Kings Cross while awaiting a bus in the night-time… Very drunk looking youngsters struggling to cross a busy dual carriageway on their way to reach McDonald’s before last orders, making it to the door and being turned away because of the queue around the block their beer goggles didn’t allow them to see wearing some very.. questionable fashion. Lots of homeless people asking and begging for money, some with more of an act than others and some who were genuinely in need, having to battle with those who do act upon it then walk away just fine after getting nowhere. It is a sad reality to see this so blatantly on the streets so much these days.

I should talk about my feelings when at the venue for a moment, as all of the anxiety that was present beforehand slipped away as soon as I was in the queue to be honest. I was feeling the feeling of belonging at that point, and once inside I was generally fine. The card payment issue and not being able to get another drink had me rattled, but standing where I was, I found some kind of comfort. I was not anxious during the gig at all. I was happy that I did it, that I went through with it and that I can now say that I have been to a gig on my own. – But that’s not to say that I won’t have an issue the next time. I will however plan differently next time. I will talk to people about events etc, but I will simply buy my own tickets and go from there.

The trip home, and the hotel stay were uneventful to an extent, and all I have to say really is that I could have been really staying in any random City. It didn’t feel like London this time. I didn’t get out to do any of my usual London activities, which was simply the way I planned it. It’s not a problem, it was not in my intentions this time out.

Onwards and upwards and on to the next one.