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Wow.... what a gig...
I got there about 20 minutes before Field Music started so I managed to catch the last of The Ruby Suns. Highly impressive, sweet and melodic. I enjoyed them a lot. I couldn't help but think how the older generation must've felt - those who saw The Beach Boys. If this is how they felt, then this was inspirational... Considering this band are relatively new, they seem comfortable, humerous, and managed to put on a great show.
Field Music started off with a bang. Playing tracks from their first album, then eventually announcing the new ones - 'Have you heard it?!' - everyone laughed. Why yes! We can hardly forget... after all, it is brilliant - so then excitement arose dramatically in the room. Everyone shut up, glared, nodded to the music with both shocked looks and plenty of smiles. The band finish their song, the crowd is silent, and Peter reacts 'I feel like I've told a really inappropriate joke...' in his strong North East accent. Everyone laughs. No, Peter, we're just blown away...
Peters voice has this power in it which I love hearing. His ability to reach the high notes for some reason manages to highly depict his emotion into the songs. Andrews' keyboard playing is amazing, full on, no mistakes - adding plenty of flavour. Davids drumming is sheer power - occasionally he joins in on vocals to add harmony. Great stuff.
Cccasionally Peter swaps between guitars to demonstrate his brilliant skills. They can swap between genres so damn easily - it makes you jealous. It makes me think that there's so much more we haven't heard from them. So much more to come. So much life left in the band. It's easy to see why the North East has exploded in talent over the last few years, because this is an ideal showcase of where a lot of it came from. Curious? Well Field Music in an older incarnation recorded the Futureheads' first demo. Tom from Maximo Park use to play with Peter/David. So yes, these are highly talented people - and I was highly pleased to be there to witness it. Probably a gig I'll not forget for a long time... Magic...
Then they finish and people are shouting for more. Wooot!!! |
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original photo by Premi Hollingum |
I decided to jump onto this one as I've heard a lot about Shady Bard. Their debut CD single went over ebay for £150. They have a new album coming out soon on Static Caravan, and press are falling over each other to see them. When I heard them a while back, it was only a quick glimpse, and I thought of Sigur Ros. Probably an innacurate comparison like, but ah well... Infact, they seem more Spiritualised...
Before Shady Bard there was the solo effort of Vijay Kishore, who admittedly bored me a bit. He did a full on acoustic set, showcasing his singer/songwriter abilities. They were nice, but not enough to really impress. Maybe when I hear him again next... Susan Delavey & Ben Calvert I didn't get a chance to pay much attention.
Of the whole of the Shady band, there were only three of them present. James (drums, percussion), Jasmin - sitting with her Casio, Violin and French Horn, occasoinally adding a helping hand with Vocals. And there was main man Lawrence on his keyboard and acoustic.
Of the songs they played, they were impressive. From the line-up , they were best of the bunch, and I think the rest of the audience realised that. Nobody would shut up when the other bands were playing - even from a 'Shut the fuck up' from the DJ. But I think SB pretty much owned everyone. Lawrences 'The Cure' like vocals and the multi-layered melodic beauty of the instrumentation... it was brilliant to say the least... especially when they played Penguins.
Then Lawrences keyboard broke and things took a turn. We got treated to a song on his guitar, with an announcement of 'unfortunately this set's gonna be cut short'. He joked - 'we got a review a week ago of how professional we are'. I don't think it mattered though, I'd seen enough - enough to be impressed. To witness the buzz. 'We're on again next week in the Academy, there'll be a full band there, Chello's, Glockenspiel etc'. Now THAT, I'd love to see! They must be simply amazing as a full band, let alone just a three-piece...
Catch 'em while you can, because it won't be £5 admission after a while....
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Wow.... what a night! Full of atmosphere, love, happiness and dancing maniacs! And most impressive - we all managed to survive a few hours whilst the temp was scorching hot! Pure excellence....
So, we had 3 hours of expermimental madness coming from the Birmingham based Modified Toy Orchestra (signed to Warm Circuit) - who were supporting Warp based Battles. Now how the MTO guys managed to pull of such a wonderful show whilst caved in heavy black suits, I've no idea. But they managed to play with their speak 'n spells and other modified kiddie instruments very well. The thing about these is every gig is unique. From MTO's conception into the world - I think they were as one person then (i.e. Brian Duffy, the man who started it all) - they've morphed into a set of five people now. One from Plone, one from Pram, and a few others who I'll correct this on later.
They played tracks from their latest LP, which as good as they are (I love 'em!) - I was kinda hoping they'd actually play some new stuff - give us a glimpse into their next direction. But that doesn't matter - they put on a great show, the room loved it and that meant a lot...
Next we went onto Battles. Already the room was swealtering - every person probably thinking whether they could survive another 45 minutes - probably less now that their beers had dehydrated their bodies further. But no... Battles came on and shunned straight away. You know when there's a build up until something big? Well this is what they did and everyone just went gobsmacked. They blasted into tracks from the new album - people jumping in the hair, some punching the clouds, whilst the Battles guys were sweating like they'd just come out of a swimming pool. It was great!
During the show they played the obvious 'Atlas', which drove everyone insane with enthusiasm. It was just one of those moments where everyone's in sync with collective thought, dancing manouvers and the lot! It was just insane, and we all loved it.
A few songs after Atlas and they had to finish. Unbelievable! So what did we do? "MORE! MORE!" - y'know, as y'do when you're enjoying a gig! So more they did, with one track reminding me more of Animal Collective than Battles. It was amazing! And an amazing way to end the gig - simply blown away! |
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