Live Review: Jeremy Loops - The Roundhouse, London 16/02/2019

Jeremy Loops brought some of South Africa’s sunshine to rainy London’s Roundhouse on Saturday.

Jeremy Loops headlined a show at the Roundhouse on Saturday evening (16th Feb) and it was magnificent. With support from James Hersey that felt more like a collaboration than simply a support act it was a privilege to get to experience the magic that was created by these two men. 

Hersey opened the show with a mix of his older music like 2015’s ‘Coming over’ and his newer EP ‘Pages’. He did a fantastic job engaging with the crowd and pumped the beautiful venue full of energy, with his indie/electro pop sound. Both Hersey and Loops are multi faceted in their talent when it comes to music, and this shows in their live performances. With both playing multiple instruments, the live experience is like a patchwork of colours and sounds that make up a symphony that is delectable to the ears and eyes.

This performance was a particularly special one since it was the last in Loop’s recent tour that saw him preforming around Europe throughout January and February. He certainly lived up to the ‘last performance’ expectations and I’d say exceeded them. The crowd was a mix of new fans and older more dedicated ones. Whilst in some gigs this creates a sense of disparity in the audience, the pure energy of love that loops and his band generated made for such a lovely atmosphere on stage and in the crowd that everyone simply enjoyed the music. Loops opened with ‘Sinner’ from his 2014 album ‘Trading change’ and through the performance alternated between that album and his new 2018 release ‘Critical as Water’.

With singles such as ‘Freak’, which he dedicated to a fan called Dianne who’s been to 19 shows, he reiterated the message of the song. We should not allow ourselves to be constrained by society, but embrace our individuality. It was these interactions with the crowd that truly made this gig special. Because there is no doubt Jeremy Loops’s music is incredible, but it’s seeing him live that will make you fall in love with him and his whole band that have one of the most authentic auras out there. 

All of this positivity was backed with Loops’s explanation of his single ‘Vultures’, which he played the acoustic version of and wrote about his and many peoples lack of confidence in the politics of today. Especially being from South Africa, he explained his sadness in seeing governments of the western world regressing to political chaos when they previously seemed more advanced than South Africa’s. It’s rare for a musician to write about topics as heavy as this but my respect for him increased massively, which got even bigger when I learnt that Loops has raised the money to plant 500 trees with the South African charity Green Pop of which he is the cofounder, in an attempt to offset the environmental damage that comes from touring like this.

A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone that made this show possible and made everyone who was there feel like they were part of the family. The massive applause at the end was the most deserved one I’ve ever heard. This show wasn’t simply about the music, although the music was phenomenal, it was a collaborative effort that culminated in Hersey and Loops performing their new single ‘My People’ (that I would highly suggest checking out!) It was also about how we can be better as a society and as individuals.

Loops announced he’s playing a show in Brixton academy on November 23rd, and I think his dedication to his fans can be summed up by how he gave everyone at the roundhouse early access to tickets. I can’t recommend checking out both Jeremy Loops and James Hersey’s music enough and if you can go to the show in November I promise you will have an amazing time.

Words by Juno Harley Davies
Photography by Jordan Logan