I found myself dancing in place in front of my seat while still attempting to uphold somewhat of a professional appearance; after all, I work for The Technique, and I was “on the job,” so to speak.
Variety Playhouse hosted quite the talented duo on Oct. 23. England’s Jules De Martino and Katie White make up The Ting Tings—a high-energy indie band that released its first album, We Started Nothing, on May 9 of this year.
The show opened with London-based talent Yoav, an Israeli-born singer-songwriter who also released his first album earlier this year. He uses his voice, his guitar and his hands to make very unique music in a very unconventional way; his acoustic guitar is played not only as a guitar, but as a drum as well.
Yoav began the show by layering beat after beat, strum after strum, one on top of the other to create extremely interesting and entrancing rhythms. Some of the beats he created on his guitar sounded like they could have been made by a traditional drum set, while others sounded more like dance-y, electronic rhythms. I was amazed by the number of different sounds he created simply by hitting a different part of his guitar. And although I thoroughly enjoyed his performance, I would have enjoyed a bit more variation in his overall sound.
Yoav is a very impressive live performer. In fact, listening to some of the tracks on his album, Charmed and Strange, I found that I was more pleased with his live songs than the recorded versions. “Club Thing” and “There is Nobody” were my favorites of his performance.
The Ting Tings, not surprisingly, started their portion of the show with a bang. Encouraging the audience to dance, sing and clap along, White (on lead vocals, guitar and bass drum) was full of energy and was quite fun to watch. Her partner-in-crime, De Martino (on drums, guitar and vocals), was also quite extraordinary, oftentimes managing to play both the drums and guitar at what appeared to be the same time.
They opened with “We Walk” and played other popular tracks such as “Great DJ,” “Fruit Machine,” “Shut Up and Let Me Go” and “Traffic Light.” If you love listening to up-beat, fun music then The Ting Tings will be right up your alley.
The entire performance felt like one big dance party. Variety Playhouse has a very intimate setting, so most of the audience was huddled up in front of the stage jumping and dancing about.
I was quite surprised to see just how eclectic the audience members were. I saw young teenagers, adults and even middle-aged fans; The Ting Tings apparently have a very large, assorted fan base (and for good reason).
It is obvious, just by watching the unbelievable energy they have on stage, that both White and De Martino are doing what they love to do. I could tell that they were having just as much fun as the audience was with their performance. They even ended the show with my personal favorite song (and most of the audience’s), “That’s Not My Name.”
Although The Ting Tings are just beginning to become popular in the U.S., I certainly see very big things in the future for their musical career. With their wide appeal across multiple countries and multiple generations, they will no doubt be releasing more albums with irresistibly catchy lyrics and undeniable charm.