Feist

The FX channel has rather smartly just started showing the very excellent Colbert Report. It'd be great if they showed it at 9.00pm just after More 4 has shown its sister The Daily Show. But anything's better than nothing. This week, both shows are off, but we get repeats, which are welcome since in this instance I can't have seen whichever edition of The Colbert Report they play.

Towards the end, Colbert has an interview with Canadian songstress Feist, who ends the show with a song.

Suddenly I remember that she's due to be playing a concert in London very soon, and I seem to remember that tickets were still available at Stargreen (an old ticket agency in Argyle Street that I walk past daily). I hop over to Feist's site and note that the concert's at the Royal Albert Hall. I head straight over to that site, where I find that tickets are available - in the Grand Tier (essentially the boxes).

Ah, but there's a problem. Tomorrow night is the Champions' League Final night with Chelsea meeting Man Utd in Moscow. Surely I'm going to watch that?

Well the problem is that I'm still hoping for some kind of UEFA ruling that makes the fixture null and void and awards the cup to Barcelona. Yup - I'm a sore loser.

So I book tickets.

After a decent warm up from New Zealand's Lawrence Arabia, Feist comes on and appears initially in silhouette.

She spartan set includes a pair of what I can only describe as puppeteers who hand animate backgrounds to many of the songs.

Feist plays about 90 minutes in total, and it's absolutely wonderful. She's obviously enjoying herself in the palatial surroundings, although at times I feel that perhaps the pretty full audience could show their appreciation a little more - the Royal Albert Hall doesn't always feel as full as it is.

But the songs are great and they keep coming, with the audience singing along to 1-2-3-4.

By the end, I'm reminded of the last time I was in this venue to see another Canadian band, the Cowboy Junkies. A great evening.

There are more photos here.