Last night I took my brother out for his birthday present: A visit to Union Chapel in Islington to see Kim Wilde. My brother and I both grew up in the heyday of Kim Wilde's pop startdom, and without either of us being superfans, we both enjoy 80s pop, and I rate Kids from America as well up there as a pinnacle of the genre. Neither of us had been to the Union Chapel before. It is a beautful building (see below) with wooden pews that were comfortable enough to sit on for the duration of the show (well, I'd just been on an LNER train for 2h before the gig, so it seemed pretty comfortable to me. There's something very odd about the seats on those trains).
I was vaguely aware that Kim's brother Ricky is also a musician, but not aware that he wrote many of her hits and that they play together still. I was glad to find out, as he was there last night and is an excellent musician and performer, and along with his daughter Scarlett Wilde and a fourth unrelated band member whose name I can't remember (sorry), they played a lovely acoustic show mixing up their own songs, and well-chosen cover versions which suited them well. I was probably one of the only people in the room who used to be a serious fan of the German band Münchener Freiheit, and recognised and enjoyed hearing a version of their English language hit Keeping the Dream Alive. They picked another favourite song of mine to cover: Fleet Foxes' White Winter Hymnal, and they did a lot of Christmas songs.
After booking the gig as a present for my brother, I had some doubts that it really was a good idea. Would it be a dull affair watching an ex-star scrape together a show attended by a middle-aged audience who lacked the imagination to listen to contemporary music? Fortunately not - the whole band was excellent, the music top quality, and the event was a pleasure to be part of.
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