American Authors

On Monday I went all the way to Camden (far) to see the band American Authors play a sold out show at Dingwalls. Obviously on the way I had to stop at Honest Burgers for dinner. Where I enjoyed a really messy Honest burger and amazing rosemary fries and finished reading 1984 by George Orwell. 

Then I went round the corner to the venue, which was packed with teenagers gushing over Instagram and waiting impatiently for the support band to come on. I walked down into the pit, and immersed myself in the crowd of girls in skinny jeans holding their iPhones. While they were discussing their highest scores on the game 2048 I was able to slip between some groups and slide into the front of the crowd. 

The random rock music stopped, the lights went dark, and on came a band called "Wulf" who later admitted to the crowd that this was only their second gig ever. The singer sat at a makeshift piano, belting out lyrics into a well positioned microphone magically holding the crowd's attention. They played a couple of catchy songs and after 40 minutes they went backstage. The phones were back, with half the crowd looking the band up and the other half checking the time and growing slightly more tense waiting for the main event. 

At this point the stage was being taken apart and somehow put back together at the same time. The last thing that had to be put on stage was a huge pile of towels that the band didn't even end up using. At 9:10 the band came out, and the crowd screamed, cheered and roared. And all of a sudden everyone pushed forwards a little more. American Authors were insanely interactive, telling us a little about each song, as well as how much they appreciated us all being there. I must say, even I blushed when the singer said "this song is for all the ladies here tonight". At times the crowd was even louder than the band.

As an encore piece the band sang one of their first songs that can only be found on YouTube, but the most impressive thing was the band's cover of Lights by Ellie Goulding. Everyone near me said that it was better than the original, and I completely agree (nothing beats electric guitars). The singer jumped into the crowd twice, and everyone went nuts. Their last song was their album's title track, a perfect finale. 

During this tour they only had one album of music to draw from, but I'm sure their future songs will be just as good. If they ever come back to London I'm definitely going. Even though the crowd was a little out of my comfort zone the sense of community when everyone sings along is something I wouldn't give up for the world. It was amazing, I spent the whole tube ride home glowing, and I'm still listening to their music now.