Lisa at Southbank

The Southbank Centre is a group of horrible concrete buildings that really just remind me of communist-era architecture; but what I love is crossing the footbridge across the river as you approach it from Embankment station. There are always buskers around and I feel like dancing. And the view of the City, oooh the view of the City makes me want to dance even more.

Last Monday, I went to see Lisa Hannigan's concert there. What is it with Ireland and singer / songwriters these days? They seem to be producing many: Glen Hansard, Damien Rice ... and of course Lisa. Watching her, you can really feel and see that true musician's soul; she's a tiny girl with such a delicate frame, yet she is the one firmly in charge of her band. When she sings, she gives it everything she has and she swings back and forth with her whole body, arms and hips and hair moving about. There's so much pain and feeling coming out with every sentence and you can feel her soul shaking with every vibrato. And then there are the lyrics, which are so lyrical and clever that it hurts and makes you smile at the same time.

And what I like about her is that she does her music and that is that; no pointy-boob bras or fishnet stockings, no poledancing and fireworks and leopard-print nonsense. No attention seeking. Delightful.

Sorry there are no photos, because I don't always feel like smuggling my camera to these things. The trouble is, with concerts and stage events, I really need to use my 70-300mm telephoto lens, and when you mount that monster onto a Canon DSLR body, it's impossible not to be noticed. People around me always start asking which newspaper I am from and it just gets too weird, because I'd much rather be invisible, especially when I'm going out on my own.

But as a consolation prize, here's one of Lisa's songs: