The 13th gig on our A to Z musical adventure was ……
If you’d asked me what my favourite music genres were, I’d have included post punk, shoegaze, goth, psychedelic, alternative indie and a subset of modern jazz.
After last night’s Roisin Murphy gig in Prague, I think I’d better add dance/disco too now.
If this is a flavour of modern disco then I might have to dig a bit deeper into the realms of this style which I thought I’d left back at Rioz or Ultra Tech in the late seventies and eighties.
Roisin and her backing band oozed class from the first track played to the very last.
In between most songs, she had more costume changes than found at a Paris Fashion Show! but it didn’t interrupt the flow of the night and just added to the spectacle.
Whoever designed the stage backdrop graphics and the mix between pre-recorded and live feed deserves some recognition too. The imagery matched the lively music and kept the audience onside with subtle and not so subtle pictures throughout.
Roisin herself wasn’t shy of getting up close and personal with her adoring fans, coming off stage to hug, get selfies and even give an autograph to one of the youngest fans on the night to rapturous applause.
As for the music itself most of the tracks came from Roisin’s recent album Hit Parade, however there was more than a sprinkling of songs from her previous solo albums which have become fan favourites over the years. Personal highlights from the album on the night were You Knew and Can’t Replicate.
As you might expect, some of the loudest cheers and audience responses came from the Moloko tracks. Roisin punched these out with the confidence of someone who knows their audience, recognises there’s a back catalogue of excellent material to play with and delivers in a manner that exceeds everyone’s expectations.
Roisin is an imperious show person who gives everything she can to her audience. With the band in tow alongside her, the general feeling is of a unique team effort who enjoy what they do and take inspiration from the audience reactions.
It’s again a bit ironic that we ended up in Prague to see someone who appeared in Glasgow a month ago. Still, that’s what this trip has been all about. A bit of travel and a lot of good music along the way.
All said and done there’s a good chance we’ll be back at some point to see Roisin again which is as good a recommendation as I can make.
Support Act
We arrived, as ever, pretty early to the gig and expected to find our place in an empty hall and wait about for a good bit before the support act came on. Not the case tonight with the supporting DJ in place banging out the tunes. Haven’t a clue who he was. Never uttered a word in over 90 minutes. But hey ho, he kept the crowd entertained.
For a few of my own thoughts on the album Hit Parade, move across to here!
About the venue
17 March 2024
Forum Karlin, Pernerova 51, 186 00 Praha 8-Karlín.
Fórum Jarlín is a multi-functional hall located in Karlín, a distinct neighbourhood near the center of Prague, known for its concentration of modern architecture and currently expanding at a very high pace. In the last few years Karlín has become the place to be in Prague. It has a capacity of around 3,000.
All comments welcome so that we can improve what we are publishing!