Q The Music Club

Gig Review

Pixie Lott and Tiffany Page performed exclusive sets for Q competition winners on February 3, 2010 as part of Q The Music Club Live at Hard Rock Cafe.

Making a surprise appearance, the night's first performance saw 23-year-old debutant Tiffany Page introduce her largely unknown material to a welcoming crowd. Having been described by Q as a "Fender-wielding Chrissie Hynde for the 21st Century", the former member of the children's choir at the English National Opera distinguished herself as a no-nonsense rocker, a unique old-school rock 'n' roll talent in a year that has seen most newcomers being ushered into the pop scene.

But tonight all eyes and ears were tuned to the sound of last year's next big thing, anticipation looming large ahead of one of Victoria Louise Lott's rare live performances. Indeed, her touring schedule only lists this one date - her second headline show ever - and for an act with two #1 singles in the bag in addition to an omnipresent debut album which is still ranking up notches in the charts five months after its release, this most certainly was a special occasion.

And as she took to the stage to the sound of rapturous applause, any nervousness she might have felt soon vanish as she and her six-piece band launched into album track Turn It Up, that trademark smile was firmly sealed and kept its hold throughout the show.

Show, of course, being the operative word. Lott proved herself worthy of every comparison to the big names in pop, her attention-seeking onstage presence deserving more room than the intimate surrounding of Hard Rock Cafe can provide. With such an elaborate set-up for a relatively small venue, it was a great testament to the band that only sporadically did an overly saturated aural spectrum cross into the muddy.

For this, it feels needless to mention, is music for the bigger venues, where concerts border on the theatrical, and visuals are as important as audio.

Cover songs being an important part of any pop show (or as John Mayer recently told the Q The Music Club crowd: "a cheap thrill"), Lott went one better and performed as many covers as own songs. "I snuck this one in earlier" she said ahead of a downbeat Isn't She Lovely, also finding time to cover The Strokes' classic Last Nite, a Black Eyed Peas / The Killers pseudo-mash-up and When Love Takes Over.

However, it was her own songs that gained the largest audience response, with hit singles Boys And Girls and Cry Me Out both included in the set before she ended the night with her first #1 track, Mama Do.