Dan Rooke’s Blog

I thought it was about time I got round to posting about our visit to the Goldfrapp concert last Sunday evening at the Manchester Apollo, so here goes!

The tickets were a Christmas present from Becca. I’d listened to Goldfrapp’s latest offering of Supernature as well as some tracks from Black Cherry, the second album, and Felt Mountain, the first album, and liked them. I wasn’t too sure how they’d be in concert though as some of the tracks seem a little restrained and I’d read some older concert reviews saying similar.

The gig kicked off with a support band called Hot Chip. Their music was a fusion of synth sounds with electric guitar and some acoustic percussion thrown in for good measure. They started with a very loud and crashy song, not helped by the amazingly loud sound system at the Apollo! After my ears had recovered, they calmed down a little and played some strangely soothing songs. I was impressed! After getting a hold of their album Coming on Strong and listening to it a couple of times, I find it very relaxing and chilling. I’d recommend a listen.

Hot Chip’s set lasted for about an hour, with about an hour’s wait for the main act - it was worth it though! Goldfrapp put on a really good show (read more to see pics) and lsitening to it live really made it come alive. I was introduced to some of the Goldfrapp classics which I hadn’t heard before - Train, Tiptoe, Black Cherry and Utopia as well as Strict Machine which I had heard but hadn’t realised was Goldfrapp. It was great to hear Lovely Head performed, which has been used as the theme for BBC Three’s Monkey Dust series along with other tracks from Felt Mountain. They managed to get through a lot of songs in the hour and a half they were on stage, very impressed by their stamina!

Overall I was very impressed and would recommend both Hot Chip and Goldfrapp to anyone who likes electronic music. An excellent night.