We were at the Tower Festival concert last night in London. Thought the support act was very poor (and very depressing). Have tried in past to get Madeleine tickets but always sold out - so I was so looking forward to last night.

What happened? - Madeleine sounded nervous but got better as she sang more songs- and the songs are beautiful, without a doubt. The pianist made so many bum notes and 2-3 songs were rushed through - what was he playing at? Violinist was excellent. This said, we enjoyed it, but having looked forward to hearing Careless Love and Dont wait too long live..... abit disappointed, and so were the people sitting next to us.

Very expensive tickets too - with a bloody great metal barrier in front of us - which some had trouble seeing over. - Id like to see Madeleine playing in a smaller, more intimate environment - last night didnt work for me.

Yes, the Pianist was weak, certainly at the beginning!  He did have a good solo later, but he seemed to not be in the vibe with the other four for quite some time.

The bassist was sweet :)

My wife is a violinist, classical, and was impressed with the lady who played last night.

Of course, we were there for Madeline's voice, which was great.  It was nice to hear variations on the songs we already knew. 

Overall, the concert definitely got better as the night went on.  I didn't hear some of songs I was hoping for, but heard some I didn't know which was great.  She played last year in our little suburb of Paris for 5€, and we missed it as we were not well, so we had to see the Tower show, despite the price! 

As for the support, only caught her last one.  It was, well, depressing...  

I read a review that the pianist for the London gig was Sammy Heller and figured that maybe he was a dep, as this wasn't the pianist that I'd seen a couple of nights before in Bristol with Madeleine.

The pianist I'd seen was Sam Yahel...ah wait, maybe the reviewer mis-heard his name. Sam Yahel....Sammy Heller. Quite similar?

If it was the same guy then I can't imagine what was going on at the London gig. I thought he played really well at the gig I saw, and though he slipped between the grand piano, hammond B3 and Rhodes EP (or was it a Wurli...couldn't quite tell) with great ease.

Maybe he was just having a bad night

I think it was the same guy...

He had a Grand, a Rhodes, a Farfisa, and another in all wood.  I think it was just a few moments at the beginning... later he had some good solos.  Perhaps he couldn't hear himself?  I know at one point Madi had problems with feedback in her monitor.

Sounds like him. The all-wood was probably the Hammond B3, and he had a matching all-wood leslie speaker too; the lucky bugger. Bet the roadies felt the strain of all that kit!

Maybe you're right about the sound. He was constantly signaling to the monitor engineer at the Bristol gig, so I guess he never quite settled on a good balance. As a keys player myself I can appreciate how hard it is; particularly with the non-acoustic instruments. If you're playing guitar or bass or kit then there's at least some natural 'local' sound (albeit fairly quiet when playing a bit venue). With electric keys there's nothing so you're relying totally on foldback.

Still, that's 'live' music for you. We're so used to hearing perfectly produced, fine-tuned CD recordings these days, that sometimes it's actually quite nice to hear a few imperfections. Within reason, of course