It came with no surprise to learn that King Charles was crowned international songwriter of the year in 2009 by unanimous vote. Each track on the debut album, LoveBlood contains extremely clever lyrics that are instantly remembered against a simple yet catchy tune. His unique sound of glam-folk along with his unique style complete with wild hair, opened shirts (revealing a somewhat sexy carpet of chest hair) and a cummerbund in true monarch style are sure to be enough to secure his position as the new King of pop.
The extremely intimate venue was filled with hardcore fans of King Charles with the majority fashioning stick-on moustaches that were being sold at the merchandise stand. The whole ambience of the gig reminded me of why I love music so much; the power of King Charles’ tunes had united an extreme variation of people that would otherwise not be congregated together.
After what can only be described as an ‘interesting’ performance from the support bands, the small mismatched crowd awaited their King’s arrival. First support act, King of Cats consisted of one very angry man and his guitar. His falsetto voice carried notes of rage across the small room with a questionable hint of ironic humour. Second support act, Beta Blocker and the Body Clock played a more forgettable set with a chilled surfer-dude kind of feel.
As soon as King Charles took to the stage, I just couldn’t stop smiling. As unfortunately cheesy as that sounds, it’s true! From the folk-dance style of ‘Bam Bam’ to the more glam-rock ‘Polar Bear,’ the whole crowd enthusiastically wiggled their hips and sang along. Charlie seemed truly overwhelmed at how his fans were singing back all the lyrics from his album after just three weeks of it being released! King Charles performed almost every song from the album and even specially dedicated ‘Coco Chitty’ to all the ladies. Not only did the crowd sing and dance, but they energetically clapped along to the calypso beat of ‘Lady Percy’ too. They again showed their appreciation as they shouted lyrics and chorused ‘we want more!’ in anticipation of the inevitable encore where we were treated to a beautiful solo acoustic of ‘Love is the Cure’ and his own rendition of Billy Joel’s political song ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’. King Charles used his song writing talent to bring the song up to date with lyrics more fitting to this era.
With the dedicated cult following that King Charles has already obtained within such a short time of the release of his first album, I think it’s fair to say that he really is the next big thing.
Discover King Charles: Facebook // Last.fm // Myspace
By Lauren Cox
Dance Yrself Clean
