The Gig Ghost: Smoke Fairies

Date: Friday 20th May 2011
Venue: ULU

I'd never been to see a band at ULU before and was pleasantly surprised. A good size, and although the drink selection was dismal it was cheap enough. We arrived as the first support was finishing after a couple of bevvies in the academic common room in UCL, where L could sign P and I in as guests. I'd been in there a few times previously, but had somehow never noticed the fantastic array of original paintings by former Slade students (Stanley Spencer, Paula Rego, Augustus John to name a few). 0/10 for observancy.

The second support were very good but unfortunately I didn't catch their name. I know they have their first album out soon, and were lucky enough to be joined by Marques Toliver on the violin. He was excellent, and I was interested to hear his set at this year's Camden Crawl had been a highlight for L. Very shallow, but the female vocalist had a gorgeous outfit which I must mention - a simple black top paired with calf length pleated skirt in a beautiful shade of pink. Full marks for looking very chic in something which would make me look like an extra from the League of Gentlemen (which we had a good discussion about on the way home...) Anyway, I must endeavour to find out who they actually were.

Marques Toliver

This was the second time of seeing Smoke Fairies, and tickets had been purchased on the back of seeing them at last year's End of the Road festival, where they'd made an impression despite playing in the early afternoon. I'd only had chance to listen to the new album Through Low Light and Trees a couple of times, and probably hadn't given it the attention it deserves, so was hoping the songs would come alive for me a bit more when played live. I certainly wasn't disappointed. The harmonies of Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies are just lovely and there was some impressive guitar work going on. A very enjoyable gig, and the fact it encouraged me to start this blog must say something (hopefully complimentary) about it.