Out and About: Mexican @ Lupita's and Raleigh Ritchie @ Heaven

We needed food and we needed food quick. I'd only ever seen Mexican restaurant Lupita on Commercial Road on drives to East London so was quite keen to try it when we saw one near Charing Cross station. Unfortunately, the nachos were pretty standard and my Atun a la plancha (tuna) tacos, were less than satisfying...tough and tasteless. Our Ludwika Paleta vodka cocktail went some way to repairing the damage though by the look on my face in the above picture!

From there we wandered over to Heaven nightclub. I spent much of my early twenties in this nightclub so it was all very nostalgic!

Always time for some posing of course!

This glittery torso has been here for at least 7 years! Silky khaki trousers were picked up at the #VCSWAPSHOP the other week, soo comfy. Body from Primark and yes I know my bra is showing..

First up were The Iyes, Brighton based Electro pop band, lead singer Melis defo has strong baby Banks vibes about her.

Quick wander round...

What a beaut!

And then for the main event, the reason we were all there.

I know him as Jacob Anderson, that's how we met on both our first feature film Adulthood, all those years ago, I didn't even know he could sing back then! slowly but surely jacob, nope Raleigh has been building his singing career (in between more films and a sting on Game of Thrones) and having dropped a few great EP's, it was amazing to support and see him live finally.

Sorry the pics are so far away! Angst ridden lyrics about growing up and painful relationships, raw soulful vocals and big pounding drum beats; Raleigh has soo much energy, jumping and bouncing all over the stage and it really gets the audience going. He seemed genuinely overwhelmed at the support form the audience, which was generally young but very racially mixed. Nice little special guest from Little Simz, who joined him for their collab 'Cuckoo'. A brilliant gig from someone I think we'll as be seeing much more of.

Live: Elli Ingram X Will Heard @ Bush Hall

Admittedly, my friend Louise and I initially bought tickets for this gig to see Will Heard live again. We had both first heard him at Laughing Boy, a music and comedy night I've been to regularly over the years, and Louise totally fell in love with his voice so asked me (at repeated intervals) to let me know if I heard of him doing any more gigs. So when I found out he was supporting Elli Ingram at Bush Hall, we bought tickets pretty sharpish. One of the best things about discovering up and coming talent is how cheap the tickets are - we got these for £8 and I still remember going to see Ed Sheeran for a tenner at a pub in Balham before he blew up. Since Will was supporting this other artist, Louise and I decided we better check her out. And what a treat!

But first Will Heard. Despite having tuning problems with his guitar, he still delivered a raw, soulful performance. His throaty voice cuts right through you as he delivers songs that would be perfect played on a sun kissed beach (or in the garden more likely..this is England)

He seemed a little rushed on his cover of Drake's 'Girls Love Beyonce', I've seen him perform it better, but the chorus still got all the girls singing along.

Will's relaxed style is charming and he is clearly still developing so can still seem quite contained in his performance but he is clearly into his music which is infectious.

And then for Elli Ingram. Before she came out, some vintage-esque props were added to the set - I'm all for a strong aesthetic theme, so this went down well with me.

Brighton hailing 20 year old Elli has just signed to Island Records and she is probably about to be the next big British female vocalist. She moves with such ease on stage, grinding away clearly in tune with her womanly physique and sensuality; her stage presence is effortless. Very down to earth, she became more chatty with the audience as her set went on and confided in her girlish voice that she had thought her management were crazy for booking Bush Hall; she seemed genuinely shocked and humbled that it had sold out.

She is clearly influenced by R'n'B and hip-hop, from her incredible cover of Kendrick Lamar and Drake's Poetic Justice to her dark lipliner, and it works beautifully with her soulful, jazzy tone. Her voice floats languidly over the music and has drawn comparisons with Amy Winehouse, her lyrics full up with bad boys and drinking too much, another similarity. Personally I love a sweetly sung F bomb and Elli has plenty of them.

Her band were amazing - a huge double bass was brought out for tender ballad 'The River' and a saxophonist grooved over the tracks so sexily. Looking at the band screwing up their faces because they felt the music so much, around at the crowd clapping and singing along as Elli dipped it low and asked the audience why they were there if they didn't wanna party - it felt like I'd witnessed the birth of a star.

Shanika Says: Check out these hot new artists now!
Elli's EP's 'Sober' and 'The Doghouse' are available through her website

Live: Banks @ KOKO

Spontaneous nights out are always the best although it may mean this post has crap pics. Let me tell you how this one came about. A friend of mine was texting me on Monday night on her way home from seeing Banks live at Koko and asked had I heard of her? Wait what? Of course I had and I love her and shit I'd missed her in concert again! I tweeted how upset I was and the very next morning one of my most supportive supporters tweeted me a link to where I could get some last minute tickets (thank you Danielle! And thank you Twitter)

A quick text to another friend to see if she was free and the tickets were purchased. 

The warm up act was Eclair Fifi who played a super alternative set and made my friend and I wish we could DJ. Beyoncé, alternative R'n'B, ratchet trap and some trippy beats set the tone and then Banks appeared on stage. 

Dressed in a sleeveless black leather top, long black skirt and black boots to match her long dark hair she looked like a sexy Wednesday Addams all grown up and you can see how much she is into her music as she struts up and down the simply dressed stage, stomps to the music and flings her arms and legs. Far too many singers are so nonchalant on stage and her passion reminded me of Ella Eyre, although its a totally different performance style. 

Slinky sensual R'n'B vocals laced over big ominous beats as Banks ran through tracks from her London EP as well as a few of her popular underground hits like an acoustic version of Warm Water and new tracks Brain and Stick. She also performed her recent live lounge cover of Aaliyah 'Are You That Somebody?' and The Weeknd's 'What You Need'  (who she recently supported on tour) in her own inimitable style, lots of eerie adlib sounds which often make up the bridge or intro to her tunes. 

Banks clearly values her UK fanbase and has a deep affinity for London, where she recorded her EP, even naming it after our lovely city. She's very Californian in her rare chats directly to the audience ("I love you guys so much") and she still has a slight awkwardness to her movement on stage that is super adorable. The only thing I wasn't feeling were the crazy light shows going on behind her - almost every song had a different back light and they were often flashing so quick and so bright I couldn't always look directly at the stage. And I didn't see an epilepsy warning anywhere!

An amazing show by a relatively new artist. Sold out shows without a single mainstream song in sight. Real music lives!