So another week, another weekend looming into view, and this one it has to be said seems highly promising. For on friday the 13th, whilst the majority of the nation scrambles to defy the mysteries of the credit crunch by driving Red Nose Day to record donation levels, Notion Magazine have chosen to hold a new issue launch party at Hoxton Hall. Not only this, but they have decided to grace us with Esser and a free bar to sweeten the deal.
The deal does need some sweetening after a bit of unsightlyness over charging people £1.50 to get the 'secret location' texted to their mobiles so that they may attended this glorious event...and then having it posted on a facebook group the day before the big reveal. But, no matter, to the events at hand...
The evening starts off well enough. Following drinks with the Spoonfed team at the comfy Rosemary Branch it's a dash across Shoreditch Park to get to Hoxton Hall. Upon arrival it appears that things are not as smooth as you might like, though this is no surprise, offering those in the music/art/media world a free bar on a Friday evening is bound to cause the same commotion as oiling up Angelina Jolie and throwing her into a 6th form common room.
It would appear that the event is massively oversubscribed... which reveals itself as a dilly of a pickle later when the bouncers decide that Esser's posse's collective name 'ain't down on the list so you ain't coming in!' From the inside Hoxton hall is a glorious maze of rooms and corridors, including the focal point for this evening, a cute miniature hall with a three tier stage that is currently consumed by shiny instruments a plenty all emblazoned with Essers moniker.
Naturally the free bar runs out in alarming increments, firstly restricted to one drink per person and then to simply a smile per person and whilst all of the bar staff seem to have been hired from 'My Word You're Hot' Inc. this does swell the consternation of those who have only just gained entry. However, the hall is packed... there are folks like those uber cool Rockfeedback blokes and Josh Weller running about..so all seems well as Mr Notion steps onto the stage...
Alas Mr Notion has the look of a man who has just been told he has to clean up what the 6th formers left of Ms Jolie-Pitt, and well he might as he announces that 'Esser will now be playing in the street ...so if you could all file outside you will get to see the incredibly hot Esser, yes just make your way outside, come on people, no...no that's just childish!..' and so it goes that those who had diligently queued to be allowed into the hallowed inner circle file out back into the sparkly Hoxton night. To be fair, Esser does indeed play one song outside, 'Satisfied' as an acoustic version. But he's not really down with it and he's soon throwing a 'let my mates in' strop to the bouncers again and this time they concede.
So 10 minutes later, to a now vastly depleted, and somewhat confused and riled hall, Esser takes to the stage all plugged in and everything. Including versions of 'I Love You' and 'Work It Out', as well as a full whistles and bells version of 'Satisfied' it's an energetic set and Esser bounds around the stage posturing like an East End Morrissey. Yet for all the emoting a lot of the songs blend into each other and there's not so much jumping offstage and giving you a quick slap round the musical chops.
Esser states he used to be a person not a band, making popular songs, mostly in the key of E. Well using one key is fine. The Ravonettes did it with great aplomb... but tonight with a full band in tow Esser seems to have lost a little of his bite and the uniqueness that marks him out from the masses. More is not always spelt b-e-t-t-e-r.
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