Somerset House’s Summer Series

Live music has always been part of summer with the chance to see your favourite bands out in the open air. Part of the joy comes through the contact with musicians putting on a show and using their rampant egomania to put on an outstanding spectacle. Yet part of the problem is that enjoying live music normally means going rustic, having to traipse round muddy fields and risking contracting all manner of infections by visiting the portaloos that are more biological weapons laboratories rather than proper bathroom facilities. Thank heavens then for the Somerset House Summer Series.

The annual collection of concerts at the prestigious venue features a wide variety of artists across many different genres, some that might be known names with a fair amount of chart success such as Blondie. Others are verging on mainstream success such as Professor Green who has been bothering the top ten for the past year with his INXS-sampling and Lily Allen-collaborating ways.

Beady Eye will also be forging ahead with their efforts to make everyone forget about Oasis. Their album Different Gear, Still Speeding went some way to convincing people that they have a viable future without Noel Gallagher. There’ll probably be less onstage fights and it will be interesting to see how they will bulk up their set without resorting to Oasis numbers. For everyone concerned, let’s just hope that they don’t have to put in Beatles rip-offs like Little James.

Kicking off the series of gigs will be Eels, which is an interesting choice to open. Mark Oliver Everett’s band has cultivated a reputation for eccentricity but also have a back catalogue of hits such as Novocaine For the Soul.

Brit-award winning Ellie Goulding will be appearing as well as American soul singer and rapper Aloe Blacc (pictured). For anyone looking for a bit of synthpop, Hurts will be taking to the stage. This Manchester duo picked up an NME Award for Best New Band. It will be intriguing to see if a certain K Minogue will be joining them on stage to perform the song Devotion, which featured on their debut album.

Giving the series of concerts a raucous send-off will be My Morning Jacket, the American rock band. Somerset House might not be the most rocking of places but the choice of artists covers a broad range of tastes and if you’re thinking about going, just remember that you’re not required to camp out in a boggy field to hear good music.

The Summer Series with American Express at Somerset House take splace on July 7 to 17, 2011,  at:

Somerset House Trust
The Strand
Covent Garden
WC2R 1LA

Image by Chris Hakkens courtesy of Flickr