King Khan & The Shrines – Live – Cargo, London
First gig for a while last night, and so to Shoreditch – home of the capital’s most surly bar staff. A long-limbed companion (and former boss) struggled to buy a burger and beers…
Can I order a burger here?
Yes, that’s £7.95. Here is a ticket.
What do I do with this? Is there a number on it? Does someone call out when the food is ready? How do you know where I’m sitting?
Yes. Is that all?
Can I get a beer here?
You can get a beer here or over there. I don’t care where…
Naturally, despite an apparently foolproof system and some of the finest minds in Britain behind the bar, the wrong burger was delivered and it was all very awkward, especially as the stray burger belonged to one of King Khan’s Shrines, who needed sustenance before going on stage.
The King Khan live show is a lot of fun – augmented by sax and trumpet, it’s an old-school R&B sound that gets people moving, while the King preaches from the stage. The crowd, initially a typically motionless ‘come and impress me’ east London audience, was a sprawling, hands-in-the-air mess by the end of the show.
The classics from last album What Is?! were delivered with gusto – Land Of The Freak, Welfare Bread, Le Fils Du Jacques Dutronc, but the new tunes were impressive also, notably Bad Boy – a tribute to the recently deceased Bobby Ubangi.
It felt like the show belonged in a bigger room (certainly a bigger stage, as the band often came close to tripping over each other), and if there’s any justice King Khan will build a decent following over here.
Fine tunes, good fun, an opportunity to get your dancing shoes on – there aren’t many bands out there delivering such solid entertainment, and all for under a tenner.
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Surely there is a law against stealing a performer’s burger?