If you attended the show in LA (or any of the other cities on her promo tour), you’ll know I’m talking about Lily learning her owning songs.
When I first found out about Lily Allen, she was one of the coolest artists I had come across on MySpace. Between the beats and her great storytelling, I was hooked immediately. I downloaded everything I could get my hands on and listened to it often. When the album was announced, I was looking forward to hearing a proper album from her instead of all the demos I’d been spending time with. Around the time the album was released in the UK, the hype really started picking up. Despite the album not being released in the US, people were learning all the songs.
Last night Lily played a show at the Troubadour, her first in LA, as part of a short US promo tour. Domino and Mark Ronson opened the show. You’d think that having Mark Ronson open a show would get the crowd moving, but then I remembered - I was in LA and people just don’t like to move in LA. It blows my mind how totally uncool an LA audience can be. They sure made some noise when Lily came out though.
Lily looked awesome in her prom dress. She ran through songs like “LDN,” “Knock ‘Em Out,” “Everything’s Just Wonderful” and of course “Smile,” among others. When Lily actually knew the lyrics from her own songs, she was a joy to watch and seemed comfortable in front of the crowd. For most songs though, she was staring at the floor, which was littered with lyrics. She seemed terrified to be on stage and couldn’t even get into her own music. The show was a bit of a mess except for her amazing backing band of horns, bass, keys and sampler. She mentioned getting into trouble in NY and SF for not having a long enough set, so she added a couple of songs that she hadn’t played yet. I’d tell you which ones those were, but they all seemed new to her.
Lily will be a star, make no mistake, but she had better learn her own songs. I was really bummed out that she couldn’t let lose and enjoy the show. I’d be especially insulted if I had paid for a ticket to the show.
