[f[James Marsters at the Union Chapel, Islington. 4th May]f] OK, so we’re Buffy fans, here at freakcity towers. Not huge lets-buy-tshirts-and-campaign-for-lesbian-witch-rights kinda mad fans, but still, we appreciate good writing, acting and the like. So we had heard of James Marsters (who played Spike in Buffy and Angel) and his band and were intrigued, but not overly taken with the idea of yet another actor-cum-musician bravely striking out into the world of pop. However, when given the chance to go see him performing an acoustic set at Islington’s very lovely Union Chapel, we thought what the hell, let’s go see. The place is amazing. It is, as you’d imagine, a chapel. Dating back to 1877 the design is full on gothic majesty. Coupled with a half decent lighting set up and a pretty fine sound system, this makes for a memorable venue unlike most of the dingy holes London bands end up inhabiting. Support came on in the form of Dan Akio (www.myspace.com/danielsherwood) again, an acoustic set intercut with humourous quips “This time last week I was in a bar playing to seven people who didn’t give a shit. This is nice!” The place was packed, lots of people buying merchandise, lots of people wearing James Marsters tshirts, a generally good atmosphere. James himself arrived on stage to be greeted by cheers from the crowd. “It’s wonderful to be here in the house of the lord” he drawled in a marvellous fake southern accent as he slipped into his first number. He’s not the best singer in the world, took a while to warm up and hit the right notes. Nor is he the best guitarist in the world, but his songs were his own, they had character and he demonstrated aptly that he can play the part of showman and knows what the audience wants. Although we got the impression that the audience didn’t really just want the songs His music had a thoughtful feel to it, it’s obvious that the lyrics mean something to him, in parts he was a bit Dylan, in parts a bit Bowie. He commanded the stage with a confidence we weren’t expecting, it was equally obvious that this was his love, performing his songs to a crowd. He’d introduce the numbers, talk a little about what some of them were about, chat to the audience a bit. He definitely seemed in his element. Some songs were rocky, he cheated a bit, having an overdrive pedal plugged into his acoustic. Some were almost country and western. The crowd loved him. And by the time it came for him to do an encore they were throwing fluffy toys and jewellery and cheering. Overall, worth seeing. Not convinced we’d buy the album, but we’d certainly give it a listen if one of our mad tshirt buying fan friends happened to have it. Pics