[quote name='Bassassin' post='367896' date='Jan 1 2009, 06:31 PM']Largely pretty horrid, I have to say. There was a massive aura of smug fakeness about the whole thing - probably mostly because it's a sleb knees-up recorded in October (or some similarly unseasonal time) with all the "guests" blatantly only there for the free booze & exposure. Ugh.
The acts were what you'd expect I suppose - those post-Winehouse plastic, soul-free, talent show pub singers (Adele, Duffy) which [i]Later[/i] seems to love, "heritage" acts - Annie Lennox still the same old strident, gurning foghorn, & probably Dave Edmunds' first TV appearance since 1978 - was it a choice between Jools & the "who the f@ck's that?" slot on [i]Buzzcocks[/i]? At least Martha Reeves had some classic & timeless material, even if she's not what she once was.
Kelly Jones' rendition of [i]My Girl[/i] was very good - nice to hear he's capable of more than grating Rod Stewart impressions!
I quite liked the Ting Tings - although I can't help feeling that bands like them succeed in using technology to complicate the performance of essentialy simplistic music. Get a bassist! Hold Steady were good but a bit limp compared to last time they were on Jools.
I got the impression that Duffy's band were a bunch of session guys who'd been told to play like they were "really into it". Perhaps that explains their somewhat incongruous twitching & posturing.
On balance, a poor show that felt like it dragged on for years, the highlight really was some lovely musicianship from Jools' band.
Jon.[/quote]
id love a go on the bird from the ting tings.