Welcome to Little Noise 2011

Grab Yourself A Piece Of Little Noise History

MENCAP’S LITTLE NOISE SESSIONS MEMORABILIA AUCTION
BID FOR EXCLUSIVE SIGNED ITEMS FROM: COLDPLAY, ELBOW, EXAMPLE PLUS MANY MORE…
FOR ONE WEEK ONLY 12 - 19 DECEMBER

Learning disability charity Mencap is celebrating the festive season and a hugely successful sixth annual Little Noise Sessions, with an exclusive online auction. From 12 December a range of one-off signed goodies will be up for grabs from Ebay with all proceeds going to the charity.

2011’s Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions, took place from 22 – 27 November, curated by Mencap ambassador Jo Whiley and featured headline acts including; Elbow, Marina & The Diamonds, Coldplay’s Chris Martin & Jonny Buckland, Goldfrapp, Example and Sinead O’Connor.

From Monday 12 December, Mencap has a range of exclusive items from the last few years of Little Noise Sessions up for auction. From a keyboard played and signed by Elbow to 7” records, T-shirts donated by Example, signed Coldplay photographs, Christmas baubles signed by Marina & The Diamonds and a Golden Ticket to all of 2012’s shows. This could be your chance to bag yourself the perfect keepsake or Christmas gift, with all money raised going to Mencap. Log on to Ebay and start bidding.

All auctions will start on Monday 12 December for just one week, just in time to be posted out for Christmas. Bids for some items are starting at just £1, so there’s a chance for everyone to take part.

Signed items from artists performing at Little Noise Sessions 2011 include:
Nord Keyboard signed by Elbow
Larrivée Guitar signed by Coldplay to ‘the amazing Mencap’
‘Lego House’ made and signed by Ed Sheeran
Plastic baubles (x2) signed by Marina & The Diamonds
Photographs signed by Coldplay (x3)
Little Noise Sessions 2011 Programme signed by Elbow
Silver drinks tray signed by Elbow - The band used this tray on stage at each of their performances this year (including Little Noise which was their final show) to do a whiskey toast for their 20th birthday together.
Three 7” signed records & (x4 sets) signed t-shirt by Example
Golden ticket – access to all of Little Noise Sessions 2012’s gigs (to be announced)

Signed items from artists who performed at previous Little Noise Sessions include:
Nord Keyboard signed by the Pet Shop Boys
The Killers record insert signed by The Killers
Larrivée Guitar signed by Lostprophets
Larrivée Guitar signed by Paulo Nutini

more

 

Little Noise Sessions 2011 Round Up

Well Little Noise Sessions is over for another year and what an event we’ve had. We were welcomed to our new home at St John at Hackney, taking residence for 6 days to present a series of performances by artists curated by Jo Whiley in aid of Mencap

Elbow headlined our opening sell-out night, with strong support from soulful Maverick Sabre and Ren Harvieu who has just made the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2012’ shortlist. During Elbow’s performance, the band toasted shots of whiskey, as has been customary for them throughout the year, to celebrate their 20th birthday together. A fantastic piece of fan memorabilia, we have the drinks tray signed by the band on auction now. Check out the full critic’s review of the night here.

Marina and the Diamonds headlined the 23rd November, with support from Icona Pop and Spark. Icona Pop’s energetic drumstick-beating performance to their catchy electropop tunes earned them many new fans, whilst Marina’s first gig of the year was both a heartfelt and intimate performance.

Described by Jo Whiley as her dream lineup, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland headlined our mammoth 3rd night, with support from the fantastic Ben Howard, Emeli Sande, Michael Kiwanuka (also shortlisted by critics for the ‘Sound of 2012’ list) to new emerging artist Bebe Black. Chris and Jonny put on a wonderful 10-song set that saw the crowd sing along to latest hit ‘Paradise’ and finished with a two-song encore including fan favourite ‘Fix You’. The Guardian’s Mark Beaumont described the entertaining onstage chat between Chris and Jonny as adding to “the wit, warmth and intimacy of an enchanted evening”.

Morning Parade opened the night of the 25th, followed by the breathtaking Alpines, who silenced the church crowd with their powerful and soulful set including the beautiful single ‘Cocoons’. Father Rob later made a brief appearance to bless the stage with smokes of frankincense, creating a magical visual scene. Headliners Goldfrapp put on a truly fantastic acoustic performance, with Alison Goldfrapp’s unique vocals complemented by a string section including cellos, violins and harps. Check out the past present and future blog for a review with lovely photos from the evening.

Example headlined our penultimate night, with hordes of fans braving the cold from as early as 10am to ensure their position at the front of the queue. He took time out in the Little Noise greenroom to give an exclusive interview to Mencap volunteers from Raising Your Game, details of which can be found here. During his set, Example was joined on stage by earlier support Ed Sheeran to arguably the loudest cheers of the week performing ‘Changed the Way You Kissed Me’. Other acts on the night included Fenech Soler and Birdy, who at just 15, put on a breathtaking first live performance of her rapidly blossoming career.

Our final night was lead by a wonderful acoustic performance by James Vincent McMorrow, whose fantastic vocal range and set the bar high for the evening. His cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Games’ sent goosebumps rippling through the appreciative crowd, whilst King Creosote’s wonderful charismatic set proved why he was a very deserving Mercury Music Prize nominee. Ending our week-long fundraising gigs would be a challenge for any artist, but Sinead O’Connor put behind her 4 years of UK gig absence to provide us with a heartfelt, strong and fearless performance. Gaining a 5* review from John Aizlewood, Sinead O’Connor provided Little Noise fans with a truly epic end to an epic week.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to all those at St John at Hackney for letting us take over their church to make these gigs possible, as well as massive thanks to Jo Whiley for doing the impossible and continuing to help make every Little Noise Sessions even more incredible than the last.

Some signed memorabilia from gigs are now available on auction from our ‘mencapevents’ ebay store. From a guitar signed by Coldplay to a ‘Lego House’ signed by Ed Sheeran, there are potentially some very special Christmas presents to be bought!


Interviews and performances from some of the nights at Little Noise Sessions will be on Channel 4 on Tuesday 13th December at 00:45am- so set your recorders now!

For more pictures from all our nights, check out our Facebook album.

more

 

See you this week!

We can hardly believe it's that time of year again! We're currently busy filling our suitcases with enough t-shirts, trainers and Berrocca to keep us going through another amazing run of Little Noise Sessions. We can't wait to see you all in our new home, the gorgeous St John at Hackney.

You're going to LOVE it!

What is more, our AMAZING new venue will have all of your creature comfort needs sorted. The team behind the award winning cocktail bar Milk & Honey and Italian-American bar and restaurant, Giant Robot are running the bars at this year's Little Noise Sessions and, unlike previous years, you'll be able to enjoy a tipple while you're watching the shows! Our new bar will feature beer, wine, spirits AND cocktails (our personal faves being the 'Ma-hoo-sive Mojitos' & Gin Punch).

Those of you after a little something more substantial (and sobering) will be pleased to know that the wonderful people behind Eat Street will be inviting along some of London's tastiest, and hippest, street food vendors to serve you deliciously healthly grub before, during and after the shows.

Right, we better stop blogging and get back to what we do best: putting on one of the biggest and best live winter music festivals in London.
See you this week!
xxx

more