OkGo Gig is Awesome

And the title pretty much sums it up. Thanks for reading. Bye!

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Oh, you want more? Actually I suppose it's up to me isn't it...

Tonight I made up for missing the last two tours and saw OkGo at the O2Academy in Birmingham. I was very late getting there due to me faffing about trying to get things to work for YouTube and generally being useless at sticking to a schedule. I left the house about an hour and a half late and ran to the train station as quickly as my non-stick shoes would allow. I then waited for 15 minutes for a train.

The train was of course a little late and as I arrived on the least helpful of platforms to my cause, I sprinted along it, leapt up the escalator and travelled swiftly through the concourse. No one checked my ticket.

I dodged taxis outside the station, I dodged traffic on the dual carriageway and I ran alongside some buses as they crossed a major crossroads. Scooted under the blessedly less flooded than normal subway and almost slipped on the heavily used road surface outside the car hire depot but I was finally there.

I got into the stairwell to the venue and was pleasantly serenaded by a band I'd never heard before. I'd made it! One overpriced pint of Strongbow later and they were setting up for the main event.

It took almost a whole other pint for the roadies to finish setting up and sound checks. For some reason I've yet to fathom, their longest job seemed to be fiddling with a laptop and getting a pedal to cue up some Daft Punk. I wouldn't have minded but I didn't hear the Daft Punk stuff at any point in the set so I'm a little confused.

Finally the lights go out and out come the band. First the bass player, Tim Nordwind, comes up and puts on his bass only to start playing a big drum that's been helpfully set-up near his mic stand. Then the front man, Damian Kulash, gets his guitar and starts playing one of the songs from the new album. It's quite tranquil, and the rest of the band; multi-instrument guy Andy Ross and drummer Dan Konopka, get in position and the music starts up louder. Nice gear change.

The majority of their set was new stuff, which I found odd considering the album only came out yesterday. In spite of that hurdle the new songs was very well received by the crowd and it was really nice to hear them in a different format after the single listen I'd given the album before coming out.

Something I found odd when I went to a signing with them in before was that Tim and Andy seemed quite stoic. This continued tonight but in context it made a lot of sense. They are both very talented at their instruments and Damian is very good as a front man so the dynamic works.

I think in Andy I've found a new thing to fancy about a man. Outwardly I don't find him all that attractive; his hair's too long for starters. But watching him playing guitar, keyboards, pipe bells, tambourine and cowbell with proficiency and accuracy made him rather irresistible. The suit trousers helped, obviously.

I also re-realised that I tend not to sing along to the main melody in most songs. I've kinda always known this but when the backing is so integral, as it is in OkGo's songs, it brings it into the light. I really enjoy singing to these songs on the album and joining a crowd sing-along with a backing vocal gives me a fuzzy feeling inside. It just feels so right.

On then to the highlight of the gig. In the middle of the main set, they brought out a table, lay a sheet of foam on it and covered that with a red tablecloth. Then they brought out a lot of handbells. They proceeded to play, on the bells with little amplification, 'What To Do' from the first album. I've always loved this song and tend to sing it most times that I'm at a loss as to what I should be doing, but this version was beyond either of the versions I have on disc and any version I'd imagined. Please click here and enjoy. (Not the same gig as mine)

Overall, they very much earned the £12 I spent on the ticket as well as the further £12 I spent on a copy of the new album after the show. I will never miss their gig again.