Articles - Event Reviews

Well, this is it. A hat trick of head trips with the Hed Kandi Experience. I missed the first 3 shows. My first gig was Andy Warburton. Great night out. Reviewed elsewhere. The second show was Andy Norman. Turned up at JJ's after Underground # 55 and watching England beat Ireland in the rugby. Am in a good mood. Arrive. No ticket, It was misplaced.

The lovely Lisa gets me in anyway. Upstairs, DJ Andy Norman is laying down the beats and Shena has just started her second set. She reminds me of a scaled down Jennifer Hudson (from "Dreamgirls"). She sings well, but it's not what I want to hear. Andy Norman is good. He has a radio show tending more to the smooth and sophisticated (I think). He can mix, except when he changes to a pre-mixed backing CD for Shena's brief outings. The reactions I overheard ranged from "chilled" to "boring" and "too damn sweet". I found him a bit "vanilla" in the DVD sense. No special features or interesting extras. Straightforward r n' b vocals overlaid by soulful easy beats. I was hoping for an "I Am The Walrus" digi-delic overload type of evening. Instead it was more like being in the presence of The Walrus of Love. Fine if you like the Barry White/ Al Green/warbling divas etc.

Wrapped up in user friendly layers of house beats and rhythms. Spiced with little hints of 70's disco and 80's poptronics. Not that they're bad at what they do. It just ain't me, babe...

Review by Nick The Bookman