Tonight:
9°c
NEW: Some fares could fall by more than a third when Oyster is extended to every national rail station in London, it has emerged
More...
New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
David Smyth's rating
Reader rating
Description: Orchestral pop from Alex Turner and Miles Kane plus their live band and a 16-piece orchestra, performing from their album The Age Of The Understatement.
Phone: 0844844 4748
Website: www.hammersmithapollo.net
Email: info@hammersmithapollo.net
Trains: Tube: Hammersmith 
Extra info: Pub
Raiding music’s dressing-up box: Alex Turner in Beatles-like skinny suit and moptop
Musical side-projects are usually fleeting affairs, of real interest only to immediate family members and pub quiz teams of the future.
No so The Last Shadow Puppets, hobby band of Miles Kane of minor indie group The Rascals and best mate Alex Turner of extremely major indie group Arctic Monkeys.
A No.1 album, Mercury Prize nomination and this tour of major venues with a 16-piece orchestra are hardly the achievements of self-indulgent egotists.
Cleverly, Turner and Kane may have improved their day-to-day bands by using this one as a separate outlet for some of the desires that often ruin successful fledgling rock acts — the need to employ a string section and attempt to match the greats of the Sixties.
In The Last Shadow Puppets they are blatant about their influences, here covering songs by Leonard Cohen (Memories), Lee Hazlewood (Paris Summer) and of course, The Beatles (I Want You [She’s So Heavy]).
Here their originals were written to suit this vintage sound, rather than shoe-horning unsuitable styles into their existing templates.
In this retro ghetto, they were spot on. In skinny suits and moptops, alternating vocals like Lennon and McCartney, the pair clearly adored raiding music’s great dressing-up box.
With grandiose string flourishes, stirring horns and producer and drummer James Ford’s powerful rhythms, tracks such as Separate And Ever Deadly and Only The Truth had a Bond-theme drama that suited the large-scale setting.
Most were good enough to justify the pair’s talk of a second album. They’ll never escape the looming shadow of Arctic Monkeys but deserve to become a great deal more than a footnote.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
