london Blog and Journals

This is the first time Andrew McMahon has  played in the UK as either Jack's Mannequin or Something Corporate for six years and the fans in the freezing queue outside Kings College can talk about only two things: How long they have been waiting for this show and which songs they need him to play. Still, with no support act and a 2+ hour slot, he should be able to fit in something for everyone, from the die-hard SoCo fans to the young girls staking out the front row.

(click the picture to view the full gallery)

When we finally get into the venue, fans next to me on the front row are handed cameras by what seems like everyone in a five-metre radius (including me, I'm not proud) to snap photos of the lone setlist balanced on the keyboard. It covers a full side of paper and comprehensive isn't even the word; sub-divided into headings like "covers", "Something Corporate" and "Glass Passenger". If he plays everything on here, we're really in for a treat.

Unfortunately, we're not: A tech breezes past and grabs it, replacing it with a more sensible 17 song list that still has enough surprises for anyone with more patience than me, who hasn't peeked at the setlist in advance.

Excitement builds to a fever pitch when things are running just a little behind schedule, so when Jack's Mannequin finally bound on to open with 'Crashing' the crowd goes wild. Kings College is a really intimate venue; no crash barrier and a waist-high stage so we can literally feel the sweat flying and Andrew can see every one of us sing along. It's hard to tell who is happier and more grateful, him to be back in the UK and singing for us or us to have him back. Andrew is barely in his seat, he kicks his stool over to lean bodily over his keyboard and flicks it back up, spins between two microphones and bounds from one side of the stage to the other in the three or four beats between his pounding piano parts.

The mood is high for the first few songs with the crowd singing along more to older classics like 'Holiday From Real' and 'The Mixed Tape' then 'American Love'. There is a pause while Andrew welcomes us and thanks us for making this his first sold-out UK show as well as promising to play us "a whole bunch, if that's ok" before slowing down the pace for 'Swim', telling us that it helped him through a lot. This is the first mention of Andrew's illness but he doesn't dwell on it; 'Swim' feels like a call to arms with Andrew swinging between pensive introspection during the verses and reaching out into the audience, begging us to just keep your head above. Rallying from this into 'Dark Blue', the crowd's feet really move for the first time and Andrew leans into the audience; he seems to really relish being so close to the audience and tells us we're a pleasure to play for.

At the halfway mark it is time for a Jager shot, the bottle is passed around the band and even the front row of the crowd (they do make a cursory attempt at making sure we're of age) and Andrew dedicates the next song, 'Lullaby' to being drunk in Scotland (he will later confess that this is the worst song intro he's done). Live, Andrew's voice loses some of the fragility and intimacy of his albums but he more than makes up for it in energy and 'Lullaby' is the first song where his voice really soars into an effortless falsetto. Afterwards, he turns to the people recording and addresses Youtube, telling us that he was scolded in Germany by a fan for missing the top note and dedicating the song (and a fairly rude gesture) to her.

It feels like Andrew has a smile for literally every camera pointed his way, he stalks over to our side of the stage during 'Bloodshot' to sing 'days in the war' down the lens of my camera and informing us that it's exercise time.

'MFEO' is a great closer to the set; campy, vampy and messily joyous. Andrew sticks his tongue out and bounds around the stage utterly careless of what he looks like and not thinking of anything but the song and the crowd. He reaches into the crowd and holds hands, the world will look like this forever.  He thanks us with praying hands and flops off the stage like his strings have been cut.

Returning to the stage to tell us that the encore is the "biggest bullshit in rock 'n' roll. It's on the setlist! We'd come back out even if you'd all gone home," before launching into a song that was "very difficult to write," 'Caves'. It's breath-takingly beautiful and yeah, fine, I cried. The first part of 'Caves' is the only point in the evening where Andrew's voice stutters, and loses his tone. The balance of his emotionally raw voice and matter-of-fact, simple lyrics works perfectly. When the song picks up he comes to life throwing back his head and his vocals fill the venue. He seems so alive that it's nearly impossible to reconcile the person in front of us with the body he writes about "we're not gonna lie, son you just might die/get you on that Morphine drip".

After the emotional journey of 'Caves', Andrew closes on a high, treating us to 'Cavanaugh Park' to rapturous applause before launching into a song "for friends", 'La La Lie' asking us to leave the room with more love in our hearts than we entered and promising to see us again at the end of summer.  In the final chaos of the outro, Andrew kicks his stool away, falls to his knees, still playing then leaps onto his piano to play with his feet before leaping off and into the audience.

As we filed out into the cold night I think I can safely say there wasn't a person in the room who didn't feel like they'd had a personal experience with Andrew, even those of us who didn't queue to meet him afterwards.  He was warm, energized and Very Much Alive. Roll on August.

To see more, check out my photo gallery , too!