I must admit, I'd never heard of My Life Story until I saw they were playing at the Boileroom
As I often do, I watched a few YouTube videos and, in this case, liked what I heard and it had been a while since I'd been to a live music event, so I bought a ticket.
It turned out that they were a contemporary of the Britpop era bands, but not 'premier league', barely troubling the UK Top 30, despite Jake at one point mentioning "the time we started having hit records" in a between songs anecdote.
So, there I was on a Friday evening, a little tired after a day's scuba diving, back at the Boileroom, a tiny venue, which I enjoy visiting very much, often taking a punt on bands because it's close.
The support act was a threesome (apparently usually a foursome, but one was ill) called the Velveteen Orchestra.
The 3 were a male singer with a guitar and two women, one with a violin and the other a double bass.
The singer joked his way between songs and they certainly made an interesting sound (and I don't mean that in a sarcastic way).
Jolly, they weren't, but they sounded different in a good way, the sound balance was good and they were a good support act to warm the audience up and appreciated.
They hadn't come on until almost 8:30, so it was no surprise that the main act weren't on stage until well past 9:00PM.
By then, the place was pretty full and it was obvious that a lot of the audience were more familiar with the band's history than I was, although I'd done some listening to their back catalogue after buying my ticket.
Reading about the band (and from some of Jake's anecdotes between songs), it seems that they were known for their 'orchestral' music in period and, indeed, there were comments about 'taking an orchestra around Europe' on tour, but these days, the band is Jake Shillingford, the front man and a group of young musicians.
I have included a setlist at the end of this post which is from gigs in April of 2024, but if it's not 100% accurate to the Boileroom event, it's very close.
They definitely started with "Tits and Attitude" from their most recent album (unlike a lot of these older bands, they are still putting out, good, new material, rather than relying entirely on nostalgia).
It's a strong, upbeat track in stark contrast to the support act and definitely got the audience in the mood.
Next was 'Motorcade', which I vaguely recognised, followed by 'Broken', which I didn't.
The next 3 on the list ('If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?','Running Out of Hearbeats' and 'Numb Numb Numb') were definitely in the set and a mix of new and 'classic' songs. All sounded pretty good and were energetically performed.
The rest of the gig continued in the same vein, with a mix of tracks from the latest albums and older ones. I was equally familiar (or unfamiliar) with all of them and found the songs pretty good and certainly the band performed them with gusto, although I could only imagine what they'd have sounded like with an orchestra backing them.
The main set ended around 10:30 with 'NoFilter', a ballad, but the lights didn't come up and, despite Jake saying he had a sore throat, they were back to perform the same Encore as at those April gigs.
It started with just the keyboard player and Jake on stage for two songs, where Jake's voice sounded pretty good (and the keyboard, like all the band, seemed like a very competent musician).
They rounded out the set with the slightly manic 'Naked' (inspired by East German naturism, we were told!) and then finished with their best known song '12 Reasons Why I Love Her', which is a strong 'shout along' song to finish any gig on.
I came with few preconceptions, but My Life Story put on an entertaining and energetic performance and definitely left the Friday night crowd happy.
I may never have heard of them in their heyday, but that's probably my loss as they still put on a great show - If you get the chance, they're worth seeing!
Setlist:
Tits And Attitude
Motorcade
Broken
If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?
Running Out of Heartbeats
Numb Numb Numb
Taking on the World
Walk/Don't Walk
It's a Girl Thing
Strumpet
Sparkle
#NoFilter
Encore:
Bubblewrap (stripped back, piano only)
You Can't Uneat the Apple (stripped back, piano only)
Naked
12 Reasons Why I Love Her
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