London Grammar!

I went to see London Grammar at the O2 Academy2 Birmingham in October last year. I was somewhat disappointed. The band were great, sure, but the venue underwhelmed and I wasn't in the best frame of mind for the gig at the time.

All change for the sequel. I was definitely in the mood for this one. Olivia and I both had sausage and mash – I thought only I had sausage and mash at pubs all the time – at the Briar Rose just off New Street. We wandered over to the Academy and I was told to bin some donuts that I didn't want anyway, which gave me an odd satisfaction.

I didn't know ahead of time that this second gig was going to be in the bigger room, the O2 Academy proper. We arrived mid-support act. They were decent: a twin sister act from some place called Say Lou Lou. I've since checked out a few of their songs on YouTube and surmised that they were let down a little on the night. Good voices though!

We wrestled as best we could, but as my HTC Desire HD's shoddy attempt at photography – I didn't want to attempt to smuggle Rose into the venue – shows, we were still quite far back. That didn't stop Hannah Reid's voice, Dan Rothman's guitar nor Dot Major's synths from making my hair stand on end several times. I think the highlight for me was the encore of Metal & Dust, which was jazzed up a notch for the live performance – much more so than last time.

The setlist as a whole was fantastic. They neglected Wicked Game – I think it was included previously to sell the band while they were still not so "big" – but they broke away from straight album imports and made every song suit the stage. The light show really helped, too.

I had a fantastic night of it. Getting home was a pain, but worth it one hundred times over. I had such a great time that I even bought the t-shirt.