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Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
John Aizlewood's rating
Reader rating
Description: The powerful indie-pop songstress plays an acoustic set with her group.
Phone: 0207226 1686
Website: www.unionchapel.org.uk
Trains: Tube/BR: Highbury & Islington 
Her debut album, Lungs, may have been denied a Number 1 slot by Michael Jackson's death and it may have also been denied the Mercury Music Prize by a hopelessly out of touch judging panel, but when the dust has settled, 2009 has still been the year of Florence Welch and her trusty Machine and Lungs its finest, if most unsettling, album.
Although nodding vaguely to PJ Harvey, Loreena McKennitt, Kate Bush, Dido and Tori Amos, she seemed to arrive fully formed from another world, but ready to take on ours.
Next month, she has sold out Brixton Academy twice, but last night the obvious highlight of this year's Mencap-aiding Little Noise Sessions was a more intimate affair entirely.
Mesmerising: Florence Welch and her band, the Machine, exchanged electric guitars for a string quartet at the Union Chapel
The joy of the concept, of course, is that with the audience almost on stage and the Union Chapel being acoustically unsuitable for amplified bands, those who take the Little Noise Sessions challenge must adapt to survive.
And Florence and her ever-evolving Machine not merely survived but flourished. Electric guitars and drums were exchanged for an acoustic guitar and a string quartet.
Normally something of a flesh-baring dervish, Welch dressed like a benign witch and stood mostly static, neglecting even to use the giant timpani next to her.
Good year: Her version of Candi Staton's You Got The Love was re-imagined as a spine-tingling hymn
Part earth mother, part mad scientist and part Rising Damp's Miss Jones, Welch remained a mesmerising performer, lost in her music, whether singing a near-operatic Happy Birthday to her non-playing, but still-present drummer or holding a lung-bursting note at the climax of I'm Not Calling You A Liar.
Lungs's songs of obsession, lust and discontent with an undertow of tension breathed easily in their clutter-free setting.
Her version of Candi Staton's You Got The Love was re-imagined as a spine-tingling hymn: the right decision in the right venue. I can't wait to see where she goes from here.
Part earth mother: Normally something of a flesh-baring dervish, Welch dressed like a benign witch
Before that, Mexican acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela had rampaged though a brief, unannounced firestorm of an instrumental set.
More admirably still, even though singer and pianist Gwilym Gold had a wisdom tooth removed in the afternoon, Golden Silvers abandoned the thrilling, layered swirl of their True Romance album and reworked its songs, primarily for harmony vocals.
Their set's roaring success suggested that if 2009 does belong to Welch, you won't have to be the unlikely offspring of William Hill and Paddy Power to bet on 2010 being the year of Golden Silvers.
Fine album: Welch seemed to arrive fully formed from another world
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Didn't know about Florence but now I'm checking her out. I'm crazy about Rodrigo y Gabriela. Seeing and hearing them must have been a treat for the uninitiated.
In case anybody is interested, I have gathered as many of their concert videos, interviews and guest appearances as I could find and created a website, the Rodrigo y Gabriela Fan Club.
- Rick, Cedar Park, TX USA
