Personal notes that I noted down whilst watching some of the mercury prize performances.
Raye’s performance –
She performed – “the thrill is gone”
- I’ve never heard this song before but i really enjoyed the dynamics of her voice during the performance.
- She did a nice breakdown with her voice that then ensued a tempo change – i think it went half-time.
- She then got back to the original tempo and started to get the crowd to participate
- She also gave it up to the band
- At the end she went Acapella which fit the mood really well after the performance.
Loyle Carner’s performance:
Performing “HGU”
- Another musician ive never heard before.
- The quote at the start about parents needed the children more than the children needed them.
- I loved the repetitiveness of “i forgive you”.
- Its a nice mix of rap and spoken word
- Telling a story about his past in the point of view of him telling his dad he forgives him for the stuff he experienced as a kid.
- At the end also going acopella and ending the story by saying hes lucky that they talk
Ezra collective’s performance:
Performing – “victory dance”
- very interesting start because it seemed like they were going to do a basic jazz but the saxophone and trumpet came in it sounded so good
- Im not a big jazz fan but I’ve grown fond for the rhythmic attributes in jazz over the past year doing jazz in my instrumental lessons
- The saxophone and trumpet were the main instruments although the drums, bass and keyboard were adding a bass-line and helping it all stick together by making the saxophone and trumpet sound more familiar every time they joined back into the song
- The drummer got a drum solo drum solo
- The keyboard got a keyboard solo
- It was a very different style of instrumental music I’ve ever seen performed live before and it is a good change in my perception of instrumental tracks
Jessie Ware’s performance:
Performing “free yourself”
- reminds me of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey
- She was singing in her vocal range and also had backup singers singing in other ranges that complement each other and make it sound like a small choir
- Also getting the backup singers to do adlibs and also singing the last words of the line to have it like a hit in the face by music
Olivia Dean’s performance:
Performing “Carmen”
- starts of sounding like Amy Whinehouse in her song “rehab”
- She is shaking a shaker whilst singing so she is playing an instrument while singing
- I like the broad spectrum of instruments used in this song like the saxophone, steel-pan, bass guitar, drums, trumpet, trombone
- They all compliment eachother and sounds very diverse
- Ends of with a quote
Arctic Monkeys performance:
Performing – “ There’d better be a mirrorball”
- The song Sounds very Radiohead inspired
- And i don’t like Radiohead
- The lyrics are something that arctic monkeys could also perform in an alternative song
- But chose to have it sound like a 80s love song like “put your head on my shoulder” by Paul Anchor