A Weekend in the City Part 2: Somerset House

The evening which followed the Banana Cabaret was another spur of the moment night out. My friend’s visit on that weekend in July 2009 had been decided fairly short notice, but a hunt through London’s gig listings told us that the excellent
Super Furry Animals were playing the Summer Series at
Somerset House and, unlike most of the other shows in that run, wasn’t yet a sell out.

With my gig reviewer hat on, I once saw Audio Bullies play a DJ set at
Spitalfields Market, one of London’s most iconic and interesting shopping areas in the East End not far from Liverpool Street station. This novel idea was part of a series of small gigs by big name acts put on by T-Mobile, another featured
The Strokes playing at the
Natural History Museum. The hat I mentioned failed to prevent the acceleration of the flu which was already setting up home inside my body, not least since this show took place in the, what may as well have been open air, two weeks before Christmas.

That minor brush with illness aside, there are few things better than seeing live entertainment outside in London, and there’s plenty of places to do so. Be it the music festivals which are held in Hyde and Victoria Park, theatre in Trafalgar Square or on the Southbank, or the outside stage at the Shakespeare Globe, the idea of a summertime midnight matinee does sound very appealing.

Without doubt one of the finest of any venue in London, be that regular or one which has been created within another space, is Somerset House. This historic building in its current guise stands on the site of a palace built in 1545 for Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. It fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1775, making way for what we see today. Many organisations and societies have occupied space at Somerset House throughout its long and intriguing history; the board of the Inland Revenue still use parts of it today, having first moved there in 1789. In the centre is a giant courtyard which hosts concerts and film screenings in the summer, and is the home for one of London’s most popular ice rinks during the winter.

Now one of London’s most eye-catching entertainment venues, Somerset House has been at the heart of English history throughout its existence. The riverside and Strand, due to their location, had been popular spots for London residences of those seeking influence at Westminster Court since the 12th century. The bishops of Chester, Exeter, Norwich, Worcester and Durham all had homes here, I dare say these were all on a far grander scale than the London flats our money grabbing friends in politics have as second homes nowadays: I suspect they’d laugh in the face of an ornamental duckhouse as well!

In the same way as now, when one footballer buys a house in Cobham and the rest all move in too, or trendy celebs try to be within staggering distance of Camden, by the 1500s these bishops had been joined by houses belonging to the King and Queen, plus the Dukes of Norfolk, Suffolk and Richmond.

When Henry VIII died in 1547 his son, Edward VI, was still too young to become king. Just as in the
Lion King, when Scar seizes the moment of the throne successor still being a kid to get his paws on the crown, Edward Seymour, Edward’s ambitious uncle, jumped on this opportunity and had himself created Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset. Just in case you think you missed a bit in history lessons, Edward VI didn’t run away and hang out with a skunk and a warthog, only to return sometime later and reclaim his kingdom in a heroic action scene, the climax of which soundtracked by
Sir Elton John.

The new Duke and Protector decided he needed a house suitable of his newly found status, when in Rome and all that, and vowed to build himself such a place.

In 1547 work began on Somerset House, Seymour already owned the land, however clearing the site meant the demolition of a number of churches and chapels, something which didn’t exactly please his religious neighbours. To say that this was an extremely unpopular and provocative move is an understatement, it caused a clash with the ruling Privy Council and was the subject of the indictment that led to the Duke's arrest and brief imprisonment in the Tower of London in 1549.

You don’t have the sort of power Seymour had gained for nothing and he soon obtained his release and reinstatement. Somerset House was virtually completed by 1551 and, although he had commissioned one of the most influential buildings of the English Renaissance, the Duke had little opportunity to enjoy the place for another brush with the authorities came in the same year. His opponents had him arrested again and tried for the much more serious crime of treason.

This time there was no escape and the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, was executed on Tower Hill in January 1552.

The building became property of the crown, although once Elizabeth I became queen in 1558 she preferred to live at either Whitehall or St. James’s.

Somerset House got its first real taste of the entertainment world during the 1600s. James I of England and VI of Scotland’s wife Anne of Denmark and Norway found life north of the border rather dull and was given Somerset House, renaming it Denmark House. Anne encouraged the development of the English masque - a form of dramatic and musical entertainment, employing Ben Jonson to write and Inigo Jones to design the sets for a series of extravagant productions.

A further piece of historical interest surrounding this building occurred after Charles I came to the throne in 1625. Later that year he married Henrietta Maria of France, a devout Roman Catholic, who shortly after became entitled to Denmark House. We’ve all seen cases of when someone supports their other half in doing something which doesn’t endear them to others, but to say the least, the building of a Roman Catholic chapel within a royal palace certainly pissed a few folks off, adding fuel to the beginnings of the ill-will which would ultimately lead to the King’s downfall and head removal.

The 18th century saw the return of Somerset House as a place for entertainment, hosting the extremely popular masked ball which was either a private event, or one where any member of the public who could afford to attend were able to buy a ticket. Fancy dress was an absolute requirement, if only this happened now. Picture the scene, at one of the Queen’s Buckingham Palace garden parties, there’s Prince Charles looking thoroughly uncomfortable with the idea of wearing a Santa hat, meanwhile over at City Hall, Boris Johnson, being the wacky funster that he is, has thrown himself headlong into the occasion by dressing up as a dalek, and the GLA’s soul BNP representative is failing to convince people he’s come as Snow White as that’s his favourite Disney film, as everyone knows he’s hijacked the Mayor’s fancy dress drinks reception to remind the world of his parties position on immigration.

Think of the fun the tabloids would have if suits were replaced by animal costumes. the Somerset House website has a couple of interesting descriptions of the Masked Ball from the media of the day, the spectator talked of how "People dress themselves in what they have a Mind to be, and not what they are fit for", while this, unaccredited snapshot of the occasion described one woman’s appearance as “Iphigeneia for the sacrifice, but so naked the high priest might easily inspect the entrails of the victim”. God knows what they’d make of the lack of clothing you’d find on the red carpet of Leicester Square film premiers!

I’ve been to Somerset House twice, and on both occasions seen the same band, Super Furry Animals, as part of the annual Summer Series, which in the past has hosted performances from Kasabian, Pendulum, Lily Allen, Unkle and The Blue Nile. The crowd at a Super Furry Animals gig doesn’t really go for fancy dress, and this night in July wasn’t warm enough to prompt anyone in attendance to wear the kind of clothing to allow for entrale inspection, but a damn fine time was had none the less. The Welsh band fit in perfectly here, quirky, intriguing and ultimately creating an uplifting experience, the only downer on the night was the ridiculous bar prices: £4 for a pint of Carling, are you having a giraffe!

One of the reasons for why Somerset House is such a popular venue is, despite being right in the centre of London, once you’ve walked through the gate and left the Strand behind, you can easily forget about the world outside. Something which for many was more than welcome the previous time I saw Super Furry Animals in this venue, for it was the night following the day of the
July bombings on public transport in 2005. It was a surreal evening, having a beer in the riverside bar in the sunshine, while police helicopters circled over head. They were still there as we walked back to Waterloo, and yes, had our route home required it, getting on the underground just over 24 hours after three trains had been blown up wouldn’t have concerned me in the slightest. People from elsewhere in the UK in the weeks after often asked me, “so are you nervous about using the tube?” The answer, for me at least, was a resounding no. Because the tube is such an integral part of how this city functions, it was important London dusted itself down and carried on as soon as possible. There was talk that this gig would have been canceled, the R.E.M show I was due to go to in Hyde Park the following night was moved back a week.

My other abiding memory from the night in 2005, on a much lighter note, was a reviewer who, at the time was writing for the Independent, holding court in the toilets showing off pictures on his phone.
Live 8 was still fresh in the memory and he was proudly telling his companion about the night he’d had, backed up by a photo of “when I was standing at the side of the stage while The Who were playing”. Not for the first time in this building’s prestigious history would people have been boasting about being in with the in crowd.