Music > Live Reviews
Little Mix
Newmarket Racecourse
03/07/17
What do drunk adults and young children have in common… well, on the 23rd of June 2017 it was Little Mix. That’s right, the girls that kicked off their 2011 careers with The X-Factor have gone the way of the Bibes. They’re all grown up 'n' that, and in the past few years have released some right bangers. Now tiny and tall people alike nationwide can be found singing into hairbrushes about their Black Magic, Exes and Power.
I can’t deny that I've busted out a bedroom rendition or two of their recent tunes, so tell me that the girls are opening this year's season of Newmarket Nights and I’ll be there like a jockey on a horse. I picked up a mate in Norwich for a night off from being mums. We winged our way to Attleborough and caught a ride with my legendary mumsie to Newmarket. We kept it classy on the road trip and drank our bottles of wine from plastic Thomas the Tank Engine cups that more closely resembled thimbles rather than cups. Somehow even taking the back route, we hit traffic on the way in, travelling a couple of miles in half an hour. Drinking the final drops of our funny grape juice, we got out the car and crossed the road arriving on the racecourse site in seconds. We made it into the racecourse - taking a brief look around, it wasn't long before we stumbled on a betting facility…we’ve had some drinks and have entered the ‘I’m invincible and know everything’ zone of inebriation… so of course we placed some bets. Going on names alone, of course we won nothing. Whoever placed a bet on a name alone and won? Everyone knows you have to take the jockeys' colours into account for successful betting!
After we'd become official trackside losers we grabbed a drink and wandered about a little more. The race goers were preparing for the final run of the night, and we placed a final bet, blind, by name alone, of course continuing our losing streak. Gig prep time rolls up on us quickly, that can only mean one thing, joining a queue to the loos.
Empty of liquids, we headed to the gig area, a pretty small and awkward space, full of people with zero festival etiquette or mentality - we didn't hear any “excuse me's". However if you did manage to get by anyone you’ll most likely get a punch in the back. It seemed Little Mix have come along way with the development of their lives and music, leaving a number of their older fans behind in a hormonal and aggressive headspace of teen angst which was a bit of downer. But hey, we were listening to Little Mix and could even see them.. a little bit, at one point. I’ll take a couple punches to the back for that. The girls called it a night with one of their biggest and most important turning point of their careers track, Shout out to My Ex, and the mostly crazy crowd went flippin' mental. It was defiantly a turning point for the gig - people seemed to drop the teen-tude for around three minutes and just had fun with the night.
If we thought finding our way to the venue in Newmarket was tricky, finding our ride home was gonna be a Mensa aptitude test. Luckily I had a reasonable adult with me, who took the lead of deciphering directions to a car in a massive field full of cars. Long story short, we drove back to Norwich hyped from the gig, so went out and continued our dancing until the sun came up, got a few hours sleep and woke up to be parents again.
I regret nothing - apart from the hangover - and look forward to seeing Little Mix again closer to home at Earlham Park in September. Hopefully the bigger field will make for friendlier fans that night. As for the Newmarket Nights, they really need more space with an all round better view of the stage to keep as many people as possible happy. The night was good, but sadly with all the crowd hubbub, the limelight was stolen from the girls on stage, with their closing track being the biggest highlight of the gig, from where I was stood anyway. Oh baby, I'm cool by the way.