Jeremy Loops - live @ O2 Forum, London 21/10/2016
Last month, our photographer Joe Dick caught Jeremy Loops live at London's O2 Forum on the penultimate date of the UK/Ireland leg of his Trading Change Tour.
Tonight, was the penultimate show for the UK/Ireland leg of the tour for Jeremy Loops but the biggest of the lot, it was my third time seeing the South African superstar, the past two times have been incredible, so my expectations were very high.
Rocking up to The Forum in Kentish Town fashionably 15 odd minutes after doors opened, I was greeted with a huge line circling the venue and an even bigger crowd once I got inside. It’s no easy feat packing out such a big venue as The Forum, so Jeremy & Co. should have been very pleased, as was I.
Starting off tonight’s proceedings were UK music collective CROOX, who’s soulful and futuristic R&B sound hit a few chords with the audience as a roar of applause and cheering could be heard after every song. CROOX played a short but sweet half an hour set, dropping in their most well-known songs 'Crying' and 'Oracle', the band are as visually stimulating as they are to listen to, with frontman Howard dancing and jumping around the stage swinging his arms around to the deep bass and catchy choruses. I look forward to see what these guys bring out next because they are one to watch!
Next Up was the man himself, Jeremy Loops, after what seemed like forever all the lights went dark and loud ominous drum beats were blasted out of the speakers. Then without warning the lights flared back on and Jeremy ran full force onto the stage playing his signature harmonica before quickly jumping off stage to greet the front row and make everyone feel a bit more at home.
Without wasting any more valuable time, Jeremy crashed into his classic opener ‘Welcome’ and then fan favourite ‘Sinner’ which by the final chorus every single person in the venue were singing along to.
A loud shout of “London, how we doing tonight?” from Jeremy sent the crowd into a fury of clapping and cheering, as the rest of his band came out onto the stage. Dropping into ‘My Shoes’ and ‘Running Away’ both with the help of Jeremy’s good friend and rapper Motheo Moleko who laid down some crazy rhymes over Jeremy’s upbeat and catchy guitar and harmonica loops.
The great thing about seeing Jeremy live is that he creates pretty much all the music himself, with the help of a loop pedal and a host of effects, but on this bigger tour he could bring a whole band with him which added another layer to this already great show. He showed off his looping skills by creating a the basis of another crowd pleaser ‘Mission to the Sun’ with a child’s toy that he has been using for 4 years.
Jeremy and his band smashed through the rest of the set, playing new songs such as ‘The City’ that should hopefully be released soon I hope and old favourites like ‘Down South’ and ‘Skinny Blues’; before thanking the crowd for showing so much support for their music and saying a quick goodbye.
A show that tip top wouldn’t be complete without an encore, so with a roar of “WE WANT MORE!” from the audience, Jeremy Loops once again took the stage. Closing with a sombre rendition of ‘Higher Stakes’ which is 100% a get your lighters out type song and a personal favourite of mine, and then his finale ‘See I Wrote it for You’ which had everyone singing along again as huge confetti filled balloon were kicked into the crowd; James (Jeremy’s Saxophone player) tooting out the notes and Mr Sakatumi the guitar extraordinaire wailing out riff after riff. A perfect way to end an already amazing show.
Jeremy Loops is still not a household name in the UK but very soon it will be and when he’s selling out arenas you’ll have wished you caught him at that little venue close to you.
