Support

Saint Saviour

Saint Saviour

Saint Saviour

Saint Saviour

I’m from Teesside. It’s an area with little going for it. As an area that built-up around heavy industry, it’s struggling with the closure of most of them. Successive governments have failed to tackle the high unemployment. Leaving many kids without much future. The Chapman’s Family’s music very much represents the area. All Teessiders have a ‘them and us’ attitude and this comes out in their music. Kingsley, the lead singer, is clearly annoyed with the way much of the country is oblivious to the effect of successful governments policies on Teesside through their pandering to the Middle Classes in the Home counties. A view most Teessiders agree with and it’s a view I agree with.

Tonight’s gig at the Bull and Gate, suffered from some sound problems, with Kingsley’s vocals a little too low in the mix. But the energy and passion of Kingsley means that they’re always watchable. Tonight was no exception.

The Naturals

Cold in Berlin

Chapman Family

Chapman Family

Chapman Family

Best support act: The Civil Wars<

At SXSW I had heard good things about the Civil Wars but they didn’t play any of the venues I frequented. But luckily I managed to catch them supporting fellow SXSW participant, James Vincent McMorrow. 

I think it’s a sign of a good performance if you remember it days later and this was definitely the case for the Civil Wars. There’s something special about this duo. You would swear blind that they are a couple because there is just such good vibes between them. The music falls into the ‘Americana’ genre. At times country, at times blues, but always good.

Worst gig: Fleet Foxes

I’m not a big Fleet Foxes fan. I kind of like them and heard that they were good live so I thought I’d give this gig a go. But for me, they left me cold. I just didn’t enjoy them or their support. 

Most inappropriate support act: Josh T Pearson supporting The Kills

Another SXSW participant who I saw a few times last year. But this was the worst performance. Josh was good. But the audience didn’t appreciate his ‘tourtured soul’ music and talked through his set and didn’t show the decency to keep quiet during his set

Band of the year: The Joy Formidable

I’d heard good things before heading to SXSW and they were everywhere at SXSW. You couldn’t walk down a street without hearing the raw sound of The Joy Formidable. Every performance from the three piece is full of energy and I’ve since seen them in London and I will be trying to catch them again if 2012.

Gig of the year: The Civil Wars at The Union Chapel

Everything was right. The venue was perfect for The Civil Wars music. This gig was both brilliant and haunting.

Best gig photo: British Sea Power at Berwick Village Hall

My regular Blues Night at the University was interrupted by heavy rock in the main auditorium courtesy of the Young Guns and Jack Daniels. Upstairs in the ‘Attic’,Hokie Joint, were the headline act for this month’s Blues evening. So a great opportunity to see two different styles of music without much effort without getting rained on in a field. (and with a chance to take some photos with a proper camera).

The rock night, was as I expected, fairly predictable. I don’t really like the Young Guns’ material. It’s high energy but fairly bland but I thought I’d give them a try. Their performance was the same,  lots of energy, but not much interest. For me, good rock bands have some ‘light’ in their music. The Young Guns material has no light. Great for moshing, but little else. But the kids loved it. But then I’m not a kid anymore.

Upstairs, however, Hokie Joint were excellent. Fantastic blues rock with a front man with a good stage presence (and lots of black eyeliner), who manages to be slightly freaky without overplaying the part. Of course without a good band around him, his act wouldn’t work. But the rest of the band were more than capable of holding their own. Easily the best band who’s performed at this year’s Blues evenings and easily the best band by miles playing the University tonight.

Hokie Joint

Hokie Joint

Young Guns

Hostage Calm

Apologies, I Have None

Their last album, Blood Pressures was an extremely strong album an album I felt was a departure from earlier work. After two years of touring with the Dead Weather, Alison’s vocals are stronger. It also gave Hince nice time to experiment with new sounds.  It all added to a thicker sound than previous albums.

Since their last tour and album there’s also been a high profile marriage. Hince has married Kate Moss. This has put The Kills name into the mainstream. So I guess it was no surprise to see them play bigger venues on this latest tour, with tonight’s Brixton Academy gig the biggest I’ve been to.

The first support for tonight were Trailer Trash Tracys. I don’t really know what to say about these guys. The sound was awful. Not helped in part by the lead singer’s who appeared to be performing a sexual act on the mic. She really needs to be taught how to use a mic. They work better if you leave some space between your mouth and the mic. I think I made out about 5 discernible words in their whole set. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and put the performance down to poor sound. But I was’t impressed.

Sometimes support acts just seem completely inappropriate. I mentioned the marriage earlier. This year I’ve noticed a change in the crowd. There’s noticeable percentage of the audience that appear to have been attracted because of the high profile wedding. It’s definitely a prettier audience, but it’s not the normal indie crowd.

I mention this because the second support was Josh T Pearson who I saw last week at the Barbican. It was also the fourth time I’ve seen him this year. As usual his performance was strong. But he was completely inappropriate for this crowd. His 10 minutes long songs were never going to hold the attention of a cosmo reader and the crowd just talked through his set.

Surprisingly, tonights Kills set was more varied and longer than I expected. Gigs earlier in the year focused almost entirely on the material from the Blood Pressures album. But tonight the set was much better balanced with material from every album. (Although I’d like to hear a few more No Wow songs). Some songs I’ve not heard for years. The new material also benefited from the year on the road and felt fresh and new. They were also much tighter than they were at the first gig of the year at SXSW. The danger for a band that consist of a guitarist and a vocalist playing such a large stage as the Brixton Academy is that you could easily get lost on the stage. So sensibly they employed the services of drummers and a choir for some of the songs and the bigger stage just gave Alison more space to stalk around. So overall, an excellent gig.

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