Got Stone'd

We went and saw Ms Joscelyn Stoker (aka Joss Stone) on Thursday night at the Hammersmith Carling Apollo. It was her last performance for the year and she and her band were primed to go off. Doors opened at 7, supports: Mattafix (don't even bother) were on at 8 (till 8:30), and Joss was on at 9:30 (till 10:45ish). We got there at 7ish and had to walk a few blocks and around the corner to the end of the line to get in. Biggest line ever. It was a packed show. Got in eventually and managed to stake a decent spot on the floor on the right-hand side of the stage about 10 people deep. Mattafix were so-so, not our thing. A bit Shaggy, a bit Massive Attack, a bit jah/reggae. Too many references to Babylon for me. It seemed like it was just a guy on the computer (pretending to be DJing) and the main singer. The drummer, bassist and guitarist weere there to fill up space. Stay at home for these guys.
Joss Stone came out firing. She was red hot and not nervy at all. Her vocal chops are amazing. She did crack a few times, maybe just so happy she kept smiling and giggling, and had to stop herself on the more serious songs. The band and backup singers were awesome. It was a good show, though we weren't fully into it. Had to wait too long, and the support sucked a bit, and her show was fairly short. Only about ten songs, starting off with Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin' On Me?), Jet Lag, Fell In Love With A Boy, Victim of a Foolish Heart, The Choking Kind, Right To Be Wrong (which she says she wrote when she was 14), You Had Me, Some Kind of Wonderful with solos from all the band), and followed by one encore song, Spoiled. We'll pop up some photos when we get back, have to get going now.