James LeRouge live review
This is a live review of James LeRouge’s gig at The Chapel Royal in Brighton on May 14th 2008 as part of the Brighton Festival Fringe.
who is James LeRouge?
James started out in bands in Bournemouth with people who went on to form The Klaxxons and Art Brut. He instead decided to go down the classical route and became a pianist and composer. He previously played the Brighton Fringe 2006 and has performed in Japan, at the Lost Vagueness Festival in London and has performed numerous private and public performances in Brighton.
music
James is a pianist, so all tonight’s pieces were pure piano numbers, performed on a beautiful grand piano in the church. He played a number of pieces based on existing compositions, mostly from films. This worked well as it meant there were plenty of ‘big hits’ - pieces we all recognised. Each of these had been altered slightly - James claims he listens to pieces, tries to remember them, and then in attempting to play them by ear adds his own twist on things. If this is the case, he’s doing well. I have to say though, nice as these were, the highlight tonight was a piece that was purely his own composition - the closing number. Superb ending.
4/5
banter
There was a surprisingly large amount of chat tonight but this wasn’t an entirely good thing. The five min introduction by James’ brother was a bit too long - this isn’t This Is Your Life! Then halfway through after an unnecessary interval there was a Q & A in which James explained the rationale behind his remixing of well known pieces. This was followed by an additional chat at the end. Any mystery he may have held at the start had been damaged and the impact of the performance very undermined by all this chatter. I would have preferred it if James had just played the music; it speaks for itself.
3/5
venue and sound
The venue was the lovely chapel royal, the sound was perfect also. Sadly the billed candlelight setting was ruined by the lights being kept on full. Apparently this is because the gig was being filmed - a bit of a shame, when people pay for a gig they should get the best environment possible; if you film something do it on your own time!
3/5
audience
The gig was a sell out so the place was packed but despite this everyone managed to stay quiet and the performance went undisturbed. There was clearly something for everyone in James’ performance as there was a wide range of age groups in attendance. People asked some good questions during the Q & A such as ‘Do you speak French?’, a reference to the large amount of French references throughout the songs. ‘No but my brother does’ was the rather amusing response.
4/5
overall
A superb performance let down slightly by too much light and too much explanation. Given the strength of his own composition I’d like to hear more of his own stuff next time too.
4/5
more James LeRouge
You can hear some compositions on the James LeRouge myspace.
Here’s a video: