The Veronicas @ Koko, London 24/09/2009

Last night I got the pleasure of catching twins Jess and Lisa Origliasso (aka The Veronicas) live. The Australian pop duo had returned to UK shores to play a couple of dates this week in support of their last album finally getting an official UK release (next month).

Making the, perhaps, unusual move of kicking off their 70min set with their recent (and first UK hit) 'Untouched', the girls and their band launched into an entertaining set showcasing some of the stronger material from their two albums to date. The heavy keyboard presence from the albums is eschewed in favour of a more straight ahead rock delivery live with the girls backed by a band featuring guitar, bass and drums (with Jess providing back up guitars where needed).

The set rattled along and was broken up nicely by a 3 song acoustic based section in the middle of the set featuring, 'Don't Say Goodbye' 'This Love' and 'Heavily Broken'. Set highlights? For me 'This Love', 'Everything I'm Not', 'Untouched' and their wonderful cover of Tracey Bohham's 'Mother Mother' [If you're not aware of TB's work, I'd recommend both The Burdens of Being Upright , and Down Here as albums of hers you should check out].

Jess and Lisa both have good stage presence, and are both – from a male standpoint, at least – very easy on the eye. The band too, look the part, and their drummer is certainly not short of energy.

If the band are still missing that special something that would lift them from being a good live band to being a great life band, it still doesn't stop you from finding a smile on your face whilst you're considering the idea; and I ,for one, would and will be more than happy to part with my money to see the girls again when next they grace our shores [Note to Jess and Lisa: Any chance at all of doing 'In Another Life' live next time, PLEASE??]

So, if you enjoy your pop/rock, light and energetic, then you'd find a lot to enjoy in the Veronicas.

Set List ( roughly remembered, so prosbable mistakes!)

Untouched
?? (my mind is sadly blank as to what the second track was! – was it When it All Falls Apart ?, or I am just trying to convince myself they played that?)
Take me on the Floor
Revolution
Popular
Mouth Shut
Don't Say Goodbye
This Love
Heavily Broken
Mother Mother
Revenge is Sweeter
Everything I'm Not
Hook me Up
4Ever
This is How it Feels

(May have missed one other track in there somewhere too) - The Clips were not filmed by me, I might ad!

Pop Hall of Fame

“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll anymore anyway,’’ he said. “What we used to call rock ‘n’ roll – the original term, defined by DJ Alan Freed – meant to refer to a certain kind of music that Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Elvis [Presley] were playing, and it was distinguishable from ‘popular music’ at that time ...What you have now is a pop music hall of fame, and I don’t care if I’m in the Pop Music Hall of Fame or not’’ Todd on why he's not especially a fan of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame as told to the Plain Dealer

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