03.22.2007 Lily Allen/The Bird and the Bee @ The Commdoore

I wasn't originally planning on seeing this show because there was a midterm the next day. However, as luck would have it, the planets seem to have aligned and not only was the midterm moved, but i won tickets via cord magazine. As a result on monday, i received a call from EMI music Canada. Yep, I thought the same thing, but I stuck around long enough on the phone to receive the good news.

The EMI guy told me LA's the Bird and the Bee would hit the stage at 9:30. So at 9:25, 3 fem-bot looking ladies, a drummer and guitarist walked onstage. A band starting earlier than scheduled (and not later than)? wow. Anyways, they played the same sort of music you would expect from The Pipettes. Not suprising since they seem to have the same gimmick going on. Though i doubt the Pipettes actually did the actual fembot routine. It was forgettable from my vantage point.

Lily allen sung quite well despite claiming to have a sore throat. She also found the time to indulge in a smoke and some booze. ..must be a British home remedy. She played an hour of songs from her debut album, pretty much all of them except one or two. Her album isn't longer than an hour, thus the rest of the set was filled with a couple b-sides (nan you're a window shopper) and a bunch of covers (keane, blondie, kooks). The most impressive part of the night was not Ms Allen herself. Her band was pretty impressive. The brass section especially. In fact the highlight of my night was the extended outro 'Alfie' where the brass section did their own little jam.

$15/0