GIG REVIEW: Fashion Rocks
- Posted on October 19, 2007 5:03 PM
- 6 comments
Fashion Frocks
The Royal Albert Hall
18th October 2007
Last night, the glitz and glamour likes of Milan Fashion Week and the flashing paparazzi of the MTV Music Awards joined forces at the Royal Albert Hall in London to stage the third successful Fashion Rocks event, in support of The Prince’s Trust.
And the glitterati were out in their masses.
Blacked out BMW’s and people carriers pulled up in succession, each opening their doors to an A-list fashionista with their Designer ‘celebrity’ handbag’ on their arm; Alicia Keys emerged in a huge black and silver sequinned dress, accompanied by Giorgio Armani himself.
So here set the presence for the marriage between fashion designer and rock star and everything this night was trying to celebrate. On the whole, it succeeded. But its poor organisation left people leaving their seats and thus huge, unsightly gaps in the audience.
The show opened in spectacular fashion, with Shirley Bassey, wrapped in a 100ft Swarovski chandelier which arose to reveal the Dame in a beautiful white dress, belting out her infamous hit, ‘Hey Big Spender’ - all whilst the collection of Marchesa strode out in front of her.
The format was now crystal clear. Guest hosts, Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman introduced each Designer and music pairing; they sang their ‘hit’ - the Designer’s recent catwalk collection paraded around them. As a concept, this worked. Where it fell short was the huge gaps in between each act, the audience being forced to watch some lamely edited VT insert about each Designer in order for the stage to be set for the next collaboration. Towards the end of the night, these montages began repeating. And people began leaving.
That aside, when the show worked, it really worked. Lilly Allen showed a softer side, looking stunning in Chanel and losing the trademark attitude, she sang “LDN” to a rapturous applause.
Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, dressed in a Burberry trench coat, decided during “In the Morning”, to spark up and show The Rolling Stones that he’s above the law too. Except this seemed more schoolyard rebellion, than true rock ‘n’ roll.
In-between, we were treated to Joss Stone, Marc Almond and Shychild, all unworthy of a mention – suffice to say the latter injected humour with the Stella McCartney models playing musical chair to their New York beats.
It was down to Iggy Pop to get the party started. His infamous torso bared, he interrupted Samuel and Uma mid autocue after a tiresome and unnecessary thirty minute break, to shout through some inaudible hit and roll around the stage, knocking into the svelte Versace models before jumping into the audience and attempting some sort of crowd surfing amongst the pristine, black-tied.
Beth Ditto from The Gossip ‘rolled’ onto the stage like a giant, purple glitter ball but never failed to deliver. “Yr Mangled Heart” only further cemented her distinctive and powerful voice. And with that, she flicked her feet and launched her stilettos into audience.
The party atmosphere continued as Timbaland took to the stage, and the crowd finally arose from their seats. The Albert Hall, albeit for a brief moment, had the atmosphere of an underground club as his recent hit “The Way I Are” thumped through the sound system.
This was, unfortunately, followed by a bad case of line-up scheduling. Nicole Scherzinger from the usually energetic and enigmatic Pussycat Dolls, whined her way through her new solo offering “My Baby”, in which can only be described as unforgettable and disappointing. She capped it off with a cheesy and nauseating dedication to Valentino, by whom she was enrobed, which kick-started his ‘This is Your Life’ moment by special guest Gwyneth Paltrow.
After another montage of his finest work, the secret special guest entered stage right. The legendary Whitney Houston banished ongoing rumours of drug abuse and appeared as glamorous as back in her heyday. Oh, and she was wearing the obligatory Valentino. After a short speech about The Prince’s Trust and its sponsor, (SWORE OFF SKI – as her autocue promoted her), she left as quick as she arrived. The audience desperate to hear her sensational voice will have to wait a little longer, as she introduced the closing act of the night; a group she has probably never even heard of.
And with that, the Sugababes shimmied their way through a surprisingly impressive rendition of “Lady Marmalade”, before Patti La Belle began shouting her way through the chorus trying to imitate Christina Aguilera’s take on the original. Even through her rock royalty status, she sounded tired and unable to keep up with the ‘Babes around her.
Silver confetti, water, fire and balloons rained down and concluded a night of narcissistic over-indulgence. A night to remember? Definitely. Would I go again? Probably not.
As Dame Edna Everage said; (after being introduced as an Australian legend – yes, we were all hoping for Kylie!), “There is a lot of emotion backstage, the human giraffes are either sobbing or sniffing”.
That about summed it up.
- Adam Walker
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Comments (6)
Zed
Looks like it was a riot! I wish I had been there to grab a sneaky look at the AMAZING ditto!!!!
Posted on October 19, 2007 5:28 PM
Katie
A fantastic review! tell em how it is Adam! Can't wait to see it on TV on Saturday... at least we'll miss all the crap VTs and self indulgent promotional crap. Who, in your opinion was best dressed?
Posted on October 19, 2007 5:30 PM
Adam Walker
Alicia Keys was the best outfit, but only on her arrival - not on stage!
As much as i dislike Lilly Allen, she did look gorgeous. But then she talked, and you can take the girl out of London....
Posted on October 19, 2007 6:09 PM
Zed
was Kate moss there? she must have loooked the best?
Posted on October 19, 2007 6:18 PM
Katie
Kate Moss? Well dressed?? Come on Zed... seriously. There's nothing original about her clothes rack! Ditto looked better.
Posted on October 21, 2007 2:15 PM
Ruthology
I think this review was good except for one thing: The Patti Labelle statement made by the writer is utterly wack!! Patti Labelle was the lead singer of the group "Labelle" and the song "Lady Marmalade" was sung by them in 1974...long before Aguilera did her take on PATTI's original. Patti may not sound the same as she used to but she definitely is not a copy-cat. Read Wikipedia or something.
Posted on March 20, 2008 2:47 AM
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