kitterography.

also known as Coco Chen.

a queer chinese visual creative

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JAMES MARRIOTT @ KOKO - The indie rocker that moves fans whilst never seeming to slow down!

Written by Coco Chen

On a chilly Wednesday, I headed to KOKO located in Camden to attend James Marriott's London show on his sold out 'Are We There Yet?' tour. The indie-rock musician was assisted by his talented band and supported by the up-and-coming band Soft Launch and the stunning Lexie Carroll.The crowd went wild for all 3 acts considering Soft Launch's lack of published music and Lexie's set changing up the environment of the whole room with her soft and emotional sound. Seeing people that clearly had attended multiple shows on this tour having fun, cheering and supporting the first two acts was heart warming as I watched many people laugh, cry and scream though out. It was an emotional rollercoaster from the previous two musical groups before the main act had even stepped foot on stage.

Soft Launch and Lexie Carroll via Coco Chen

James Marriott via Coco Chen

As James' band stepped into view, all eyes were glued to the stage waiting for the man himself to walk on. When he ran on stage, arms in the air, greeting the crowd, the energy he gave was very well received by the crowd. It felt like an unspoken call and response, as the fans screamed and cheered for the energetic front man.To match the theme of his recent debut album 'Are We There Yet?', his band were dressed in white shirts and black ties. Many of them also seemed to have glitter makeup on their faces, highlighting their eyes. With a massive sunset coloured swirl that loomed behind the band on stage, reminiscent of the album cover, the band started playing 'Over My Head', a very strong song to open with.

The energy was kept up as the set list followed with more songs from his discography like 'Him', 'So Long' and 'Going Postal At The Party' with slower songs such as 'You Are Here' and 'Car Lights' being slipped in between hinting at the slower, more emotional end to the set.

A unique part of the set, which I heard was an ongoing though out the tour, was the conducting which occurs before singing a fan favourite 'The Other Side'. He addressed the crowd, saying ‘I better see open pits for this one.', as the whole band started playing the intro to the songs. You could feel the love for the song from the crowd as they started jumping up and down especially as it approached the iconic guitar solo, played by band member, Matt Gavin.During White Noise, you could hear people in the crowd crying and hugging their friends whilst it was being played. During the transition between this and Denial, which is a reference to the album, you could hear the crowd screams that broke though the earplugs I was wearing as this had been a highly anticipated part of the set.

James Marriott via Coco Chen

Something that massively surprised fans at this show was the addition of a song from James’ debut EP ‘No Left Brain’. Many fans faces lit up as they heard the sound of ‘Calling’, which is now a rare extra on the setlist due to James’ expanded discography.It ended off with one of his singles that released as apart of his debut album 'Romanticise This'. An amazing closer as it pulled at my heart strings hearing it live for the first time. It was an unreal experience that I would go though again. Such a powerful end to the night as I watched many rush to the merch stands to grab their meromelia.If you ever get the chance to see James Marriott live, he is a must see. James Marriott is heading back on the road to continue the second part of the ‘Are We There Yet’ tour Mid-June which is now sold out as of the 22nd March.

about.

Ayup! I'm Coco 'Kit' Chen, aka kitterography and I'm queer chinese visual creative based in England. I specialise in live event photography, graphic design and film making. Many of my personal creative endeavours heavily feature my current interests and tie in aspects of their identity into their work if possibleHaving been interested in creative arts ever since a young age and content creation as a whole, I have tried everything you can imagine in the creative sphere and finally found my footing doing what I do now!I also create content on tiktok (@mysticfoxywolf) helping others learn more about music photography and also document my life as someone who studies full time and does all of this on the side.At the age of just 15, I started concert photography and have now, at 17, photographed many of my favourite artists and worked with festivals such as Dot to Dot and Beat the Streets.If you have any enquiries, please email [email protected] or send me a message on instagram / twitter (@kitterography on both platforms)

~ kit

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