New Hero, 30th January 2009

La Roux, despite being tipped for big things just about everywhere, has released just one single, “Quicksilver”, and, before tonight’s gig, played only three shows. However, hype, doing exactly what it says on the tin, packed out the already intimate New Hero and went on to prove that it never fails to draw a crowd. With the crowd packed into a room so closely that, come the end of the gig you can either 1: never look the person you were pressed up against in the eye again or 2: marry them, La Roux arrived.

Of the same breed of pop star as fellow Londoner Florence Welch, La Roux takes the role of the new, edgier, cooler cousin to the Adeles and Duffys of last year. Contrasting to Welch however, she is of the synth-pop, ‘80s mould. Coming on at around half past midnight, and using a box as a makeshift stage, she was brief with her introduction and even more so with her five song set. With four of these coming from her MySpace, the audience was treated to only one new song, “Bulletproof”, a forthcoming single, which while catchy, does make you wonder why a new artist like her would dismiss the chance to showcase herself as much as she possibly could.

La Roux’s slick electro-pop sounds great on record, and there is no denying she has a knack for making instantly memorable and catchy songs, but on stage her voice seems to hover constantly in the higher registers and lacks that certain kick that comes across on the records. Similarly, her backing band lost its edge, possibly due to a below par sound system, but more likely because the songs were written in a studio and have never seen the bright lights of the stage before.

Admittedly, with this being only her fourth gig, it’s understandable that her live show doesn’t live up to the polished pop princess image that her recordings generate. Yet with all the attention she has been garnering since her emergence last year, it begs the question: why she doesn’t put more effort into being the artist that, for once, actually lives up to the hype? Of course, it is true that no one would anticipate the success of an already established band, but with La Roux, perhaps the critics have all jumped into a particular boat before it’s even left the dock. 

Words by Dave Drummond

Photography by Sam Hiscox