The first band, Let’s Eat Grandma were two young girls with prodigious talent playing half a dozen different instruments. Their music was somehow both mature and immature at the same time. Some of the ideas were really interesting but I’m not sure they really worked for me. But it was nice seeing two young artists trying to push boundaries.

Briana Marela was up next. What she played was okay. But I’m not a fan of electronic performances. For me live music is about performances and a single performer standing behind a keyboard, just isn’t ‘live’ enough for me. I’d rather just listen to the music on CD and I’m afraid tonight, I kind of zoned out when Briana was performing.

The last support of the evening was Richard Dawson, a folk artist from Newcastle. I was really impressed by this guy. He was fun and down to earth, even climbing down off the stage to sing from the crowd. Definitely worth catching again.

Closing the evening was one of my favourites, Josh T Pearson. The tall bearded preacher had reinvented himself. Arriving on stage in a white cowboy outfit and accompanied by another guitarist. Josh mixed his solo material from his last album with old gospel songs. He even included some new material about robots, yes really. As you would expect, he introduced each song with his usual bad jokes and dry wit.

I guess the idea behind these evenings is to make you aware of the musical genius of the person being covered. I’m nor sure tonight’s evening did much to convert me to Lee Hazlewood’s music. Except for Josh T Pearson, most singers said little, singing their song and leaving the stage. So you were left no wiser as to why these artists wanted to cover his work. The music itself was okay, but no more. Oh well. It was worth a try.

Ren Harvey

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.

[youtube mpDCb6Ugcl0 600] ]]> 446 https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/437 Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:49:13 +0000 http://gigs.pahudson.net/?p=437 This was the third time I’ve seen Josh T Pearson. I caught one of his performances at SXSW earlier in the year and found it an intense experience. I bought the ticket not long after SXSW but managed to catch a performance in Cambridge in September and as the gig clashed with a Boro match in Peterborough, I’d thought about giving the concert a miss. However, after pouring over timetables, it seemed like it was possible to get from Peterborough to the Barbican in time for the 8pm start.

As it turned out I managed to get to the Barbican with a good 30 minutes to spare. Which gave me ample opportunity to be appalled at the prices in the Barbican (a beer and a packet of crisps cost over £7). So it unexpectedly turned out to be a rather dry evening.

It was billed that there would be four support acts ‘curated’ by Josh, each of whom who would play three songs. The Barbican website said that Josh would personally introduce each band. This didn’t happen, which was a pity. I would have loved to hear why Josh ‘picked’ these groups.

The first band ‘Big Deal’ really didn’t make an impression on me. Pleasant enough, but also bland. The second band, ‘We three and the Death Rattle’, were an big improvement. Some of the lyrics were rubbish, but the music was actually pretty good.

The third group Cold Specks, has a lead singer with a voice that seemed to have come from the cotton fields of the deep south, rough but full of soul. It seemed like her voice had been lifted from a gospel recording from the 1930s. I believe the lead singer is actually from Canada, but her voice definitely resonates with the gospel singers of the deep south. Personally, I loved her voice and her music.

Rounding up the decent support was Richard Warren with his stripped back 50s sound who had supported Josh in Cambridge.

If you’ve not heard ‘Last of the Country Gentleman’ you’ve missed possibly the album of the year (it’s a close run thing with PJ Harvey’s ‘Let England Shake’). There’s more emotion in just one of it’s 10 minute long rambling songs, than most bands excise in their whole career. You feel like you are listening to the sound of a tormented soul asking for redemption. Before SXSW I’d never heard of Josh T Pearson and if I hadn’t seen him live, I’m not sure I would have ever picked up this great album.

Live, I think Josh’s music needs the right venue. I’d seen him play a church in Austin and the setting was just perfect. Tall, dressed in black with his long beard, he cut an imposing figure standing at the front of the church. He was the preacher and we were his congregation. His songs at time seemed like hymns being sung by a tormented preacher looking to us to give him the redemption he was seeking. This was the perfect setting. I don’t think there will ever be a more perfect setting for his music.

The Barbican, is not a Presbyterian Church. It’s cavernous stage dwarfed even Josh’s imposing physical presence. But nevertheless, as soon as Josh uttered his first words, his presence filled the theatre. It helps that he matches his intense music and a wry, self deprecating sense of humour. The only downside is that with most songs clocking 10 minutes, the time flew so quickly it seemed that just as he was stepping onto the stage, he was stepping off it again. But when every word uttered comes from the depth of your soul, I’m sure there’s only so much a man can sing in one evening.

I’m not sure enjoyable is the right word to use for a Josh T Pearson’s performance. If delving into the darkness of this man’s soul can be called enjoyable, then this evening was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

(No photos. So this is an iPhone photo taken at the end of the gig)