CityLife

Little Boots

FRESH FROM JOOLS HOLLAND: Little Boots

AT the tail end of last year, 130 of the UK’s leading music critics and broadcasters came together to compile the BBC’s Sound of 2009.

The final list included many acts that you will have heard day after day over the airwaves, such as La Roux, White Lies and Lady GaGa.

Sitting pretty at the top of the list released in December, was Blackpool’s very own electro-pop Christmas fairy Little Boots.

At the time, she (Victoria Hesketh) had a back catalogue of releases that matched her shoe size, which for those who do not know, is a measly three.

At around 9pm the stage is now decked out with a solitary drum kit and all the relevant electronics for the show, these include a couple of keyboards, a stylophone and her favoured Japanese Tenori-on.

Although everything is in place, there is a technical issue that halts proceedings for around 20 minutes or so.

Eventually, the lights from the rear of the stage come alive almost blinding everyone in the room, which is now packed out from front to back.

Fresh from last night's live performance on Later With Jools Holland, she bounces onto the stage looking full of giddiness and excitement in her purple ruffled dress, much to the delight of the eagerly awaiting crowd.

The first of tonight’s electronic delights is 'Earthquake' and it would seem there is still a slight issue with the sound, as her vocals are not as clear as they should be.

As we enter into 'Meddle', this seems to have been rectified and her voice is now crystal clear and sounding as good as she looks, which is very good indeed.

Less pretence

Unlike the other female pop musicians that are currently surfacing this year, Victoria has less pretence about her.

At moments between songs she seems genuinely overjoyed with the turn out for this opening night of her tour.

Her song 'Magical', which is one of her older tracks is pure disco and even has a slight hint of the massive 1979 hit Ring My Bell by Anita Ward.

With the release of her debut album 'Hands' only weeks away (June 8), we get to hear many of the tracks, including 'Mathematics', 'Tune Into My Heart' and the more down-tempo 'Click'.

My personal favourite has got to be 'Remedy', which is full of driving bass throughout.

'New in Town' is her next single (due out on May 25) and before giving this an airing, she informs us of the news, that only moments before tonight’s show it has been added to the 'A' playlist for Radio 1.

Last of the main set is 'Love Kills', which is a cover of a Freddie Mercury/Giorgio Moroder song and at points almost slips from classic dicso into hi-energy.

Finishing with 'Stuck on Repeat', which she dedicates to her parents and cousins that are all in attendance, this evening’s show has certainly proved that Little Boots is a down to earth girl, who can create all her own fresh pop from scratch and will hopefully continue to do so for a long time to come.