We Sent Xander to See 'Little Mix'

Music
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I am going to be absolutely clear before I begin here. If you are the sort of person that just doesn’t like pop music, this review isn’t for you; I don’t write for Noisey, and as such I’m not going to rip into Little Mix for some arbitrary reason to seem #Edgy. I would also like to point out that this is literally the first time I’ve been to a concert with a media pass, and it excites me no end, because now I absolutely qualify as a real journalist™ .I went to see Little Mix at 'Live at the Marquee', which sort of stands out a little bit because the Marquee is not exactly the place you would expect to see a pop band at; it's really more of a venue that seems to appeal more towards the more alternative styles of music, and bands that have moved into the more ‘vintage’ frame of reference. You can easily tell this when you walk into the gaff because the smoking area is huge and you can clearly hear whatever is happening inside for the most part, so people who desperately need to stand outside & smoke cigarettes don't miss out on listening to the band they paid around €40 to see. I don’t really need to frame that the Marquee is an excellent venue, it should be a given at this stage, but the odd mention of it can’t harm. The first thing I noticed when I arrived in the concert was that I was deeply out of place. The combination of beard, long hair, leather jacket and slight surliness that can only come from doing three years of an Arts degree made me stick out like a, well, like a hipster at a Pop concert. Indeed a large section of the audience was younger than my little sister, and had far too much energy for an old, bitter 21 year old like me to put up with; fortunately the concert started before I became too painfully self-aware. Opening with one of their older pieces before making a brief introduction, the immediate highlight for me was when they played their new song Hair.

I don’t think it needed Sean Paul, but then again, I don’t think anything needs Sean Paul...but it was still an excellent way to bring up the energy in a concert early on. They were able to keep this energetic beat throughout the show, sprinkled with audience interaction that had a strong 'feel good about yourself' positivity slant (though when they did a shout out to the guys in the audience and like all twelve of us responded it shattered the immersion). I felt that aspect was particularly focused at the younger members of the audience, and it was perhaps a touch jarring when we had that in comparison to the rather sexed up nature of the show. 

This is probably down to the fact that most of the music industry is still horrendously patriarchal, and for female artists this is the done thing. I am absolutely not taking a shot at Little Mix here for these trends, but maybe you should keep an eye on it if you’re thinking of taking a very young sibling to a gig. Overall, though, it was an frenetic & well designed show in a reasonably intimate venue, and if that’s what you’re into I’d recommend giving it a shot. At the very least if your significant other drags you along you won’t be completely bored because they sing ‘Jump On It’ halfway through. I would recommend bringing friends though.TL;DR: It’s a Little Mix concert, and you get what you expect, so if you like modern pop then give it a go. And if not, the Marquee offers a pretty diverse range of stuff. Though the back-up dancers are v. fine.

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