The Music Note

On this day five years ago, I saw John Mayer play at the Royal Albert Hall, his second of a two night stint at the venue.  At the time, it was my third time seeing him live, and even now after nineteen shows, this still remains as my favourite ever concert of his. I had attended the first RAH show on the 17th, and though it was a great gig, I personally thought this performance on the 18th outshone the first by far.  Firstly, the atmosphere was miles better - the crowd seemed more invested in the gig, everyone was up on their feet singing along, and just generally more into the music than the first night.  I was lucky enough to be third row centre on the 18th, so being this close to the action would inevitably make for an amazing crowd atmosphere as well. However, it was the setlist and overall musicianship of Mayer and his live band that made this such a unique performance.  As Continuum had been released the previous year, Mayer's tours around this time were ...

The Killers played three intimate shows in London this week, starting with the HMV Forum on Monday for a Radio 1 gig, followed by the iTunes festival at the Roundhouse on Tuesday and finally, an appearance at Koko on Wednesday, which was being recorded for Channel 4's London Live Series.  These gigs gave fans who were lucky enough to win tickets, the opportunity to see a band more used to selling out arenas, play in such small, intimate venues.  Though I was not successful in winning tickets for any of the shows, a fellow member of The Killers fanclub - The Victims - had a spare ticket to the Koko gig, which he very kindly gave to me.  Thank you, James! As this show was being recorded for TV, the set was shorter than a standard gig - the band came on stage promptly at 8:00pm and were finished just before 9:00pm.  At almost an hour in length, the setlist inevitably consisted of the band's most well known singles (no previous album tracks here) along with four ...