Kina Grannis - Friday October 21st 2011 - Bush Hall, London
I think the story of how I got to go to this show is kind of relevant: I have been a fan of Californian pop/folk singer Kina Grannis for around three years, it was through her essentially that I heard of most of my other favourite bands and it always impresses me how well she interacts with her fans. And rightly: it was the Internet and the videos she uploads to Youtube that brought her to fame, Kina is kind enough to put a lot of effort into interacting through Twitter and Facebook, and she told me personally through a reply to the Facebook message I sent her about her tour before she announced shows in the UK.
I was really slow finding somebody to go with me to the show, and seeing if I'd get time off school. Fortunately, it turned out I had the day off school and could get to London, but by then the tickets had sold out. I bought some second hand. Two nights before the tickets still hadn't arrived, which was very scary, but on the morning we were leaving a package was at the post office. Opening the package was a very worrying moment, I think it would've broken my heart if it had turned out to be something else.
Before the show we went to Hummingbird Bakery, where I bought a cupcake to give Kina at the meet & greet because I am a huge dork. I queued outside early, whilst my dad who I was with went to get food - he has less patience with queues than me - and talked to an Irish guy, who came on his own and had been to three of the shows.
Shepherd's Bush Hall is a tiny arena but really beautiful, it has red velvet curtains and a big disco ball hanging over the room. It's also really small and intimate - I stood really close to the front, my bag and drink were resting on the edge of the stage. They have hung up boards with information about people that have played with before, and a huge one about Imogen Heap!
The support act was also selling t-shirts at the merch table. His name is Jesse Epstein, and on stage he goes by the name of Imaginary Friend. I hadn't heard of him but I really like his music, he's a great singer and played a genius cover of "Fly Me To The Moon".
Kina came on and my first thoughts were that she was exactly like I'd imagined from all her videos and blogs - except much, much shorter. She opened with "World in Front of Me", played the whole show on one guitar, which she shared with Imaginary Friend and it was so pretty and intimate and just the way music should be. Everything about it was minimal - the way she was, one girl alone with just her guitar, and the only people on tour with her were Jesse and her manager, Jon, and music can still function like this. That makes me happy.
Kina was quiet but chatty and interacted with the audience a lot, talking about the reason for "The Goldfish Song's" title and being embarrassed about her bright green socks. Kina and Imaginary Friend played one of his songs together, unrehearsed, which was still flawless, and she also played a really great cover of Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again".
The last song was my favourite, "Message From Your Heart", and she just unplugged and came over to one side of the stage - my side - and whilst she sang the audience joined in, singing the rhythm of the "bum bum bum bum"'s with her.
Being in the presence of Kina was strange because I feel like she's somebody I know, after seeing all her videos for the last three years, seeing her grow and change and without sounding too cheesy, her supporters online really have come along on the journey.
When it got to my turn in the meet & greet, we hugged like old friends. She said, "I remember you!" and for one weird second I thought she might mean from the few Facebook messages we've exchanged, but then realised I'd been stood near the front and she could see me the whole time, which is a funny idea to get my head around, though obviously I'd thought that the performer must look at the audience and see them, too. She also liked the cupcake.
It wasn't long, because curfews have venues, but I don't think I can think of a performer who's more enthusiastic about communication with their fans than Kina: she made sure she signed things, took pictures and talked with every single person at the show, just for a while.
