Category: Live Reviews

with Black Angels
Shepherd’s Bush
07.10.10

I was more than a tad excited to hear that the upcoming Black Mountain gigs were getting support from trippy Texan psych-heads Black Angels, two bands that absolutely compliment each other perfectly.

Shepherds Bush Empire filled slowly on Thursday night, nothing to do with not selling out in the slightest, more so the thick hazy aroma hanging in the air around the venue, I caught myself wistfully thinking back to better times, staring into the middle-distance like a war vet. A mixed crowd of all ages and styles sauntered their way into the venue, with the hardcore fans setting up camp at the front, ready to sway to the droning tones of Black Angels.

Playing a solid batch of their latest album Phosphene Dream, tracks like Bad Vibrations and Entrance Song are met with metronomic nodding from everyone, although the cleaner sound they’ve adopted since Passover just doesn’t feel as good. Might I add, whoever was lighting director that night needs to chill the fuck out. It wasn’t a rave, so try following the beat of just one instrument, not mash every light with every single musical note and syllable. Seriously, half the audience had to look away as it was too intense.

With the slightly more ‘swinging 60’s’ tracks played, they slipped back to the druggy, Vietnam inspired tracks of Passover, crowd roars and yelps meeting Young Dead Men, it’s ominous intro causing every hair on my neck to stand up, something that hasn’t happened in a long time at a live gig. I’ll say this now, the Black Angels are what The Doors could have been if they weren’t crap. There, I said it.

Black Mountain entered to a chanting intro, moodily let and the excitement rose to new levels for a band that keep getting better and better with every album. Their success is marked with their In The Future album, which topped many a Top 10 list that year, and every track played from it that night whipped the crowd into a shark-pool frenzy of bodies.

Tyrants was probably one of the most epic tracks of the night as Black Mountain drew from all of their influences, from Sabbath to Pink Floyd to Deep Purple and back again. Amber Webber’s voice is even more amazing live, punching through the heavy guitars and humming organ sounds, despite at times looking really lost on stage.

Latest album Wilderness Heart was given a good outing too, with chugging tracks Let Spirits Ride getting the crowd going with it’s balls-out riffs and solos; if you close your eyes tightly you really could be fooled into thinking Iommi and Ozzy and playing for you. Stephen McBean even gave a little prayer to the surf God’s, “Bouncers, be kind to the surfers tonight!”

This night of Black was definitely one to remember, the next day’s ear-ringing gently reminding you that both Black Angels and Black Mountain are making a massive noise right now and look set to continue doing so for some time.

Moose

with Kepi Ghoulie
The Gaff, London
08.10.10

Turns out I wasn’t the only person to yelp when the finest folk-punks of Phoenix, Arizona, the writers of an album that would quickly be in the top 10 lists of at least 75% of the lonely message board readers across the world, Andrew Jackson Jihad announced that they were going to be heading out of the USA on their first ever European tour. Just like when you make an in-joke that someone outside your frequent friendship group finds funny, finding another AJJ fan is one of the best things to happen to an AJJ fan. Unsurprisingly, the gig was a goldmine for this, and yet everyone was still surprised to find another shouting sacriligeous reasons to rejoice even when we were all there specifically to watch them play live in London for the first time. It was obvious watching everyone understandably lose their shit as they start playing, that the wait was worth it. Here were a band that are criminally underrated in their home country and being as impossibly fun live as I expected in mine. I owe them too much for their visit. So it was the least I could do by getting self-destructively drunk and shouting along as loud as I could in an atmosphere so immediately happy, desperate, friendly, escapist, safe and filled with a sort of boozed up camp-song euphoria.

People II: The Reckoning has had a notoriously uplifting sound played live for a long time now thanks to repetitive viewings of the Wayward performance (which you can also see below) on the toobz. Though the crowd weren’t exactly the shoe-gazing sort, a foot-stomping rendition of the track got the entire bar moving and screaming about the rapists and nazis living in all of our tiny, tiny hearts. Later, the awesomely awesome Kepi Ghoulie followed hiw own engrossing set by helping the guys out on Love Will Fuck Us Apart, which if my memory isn’t lying to me (it is prone to doing so) was followed by Sense, Sensability giving everyone the perfect opportunity to link up in hell later on after the show.

Given that the band are a two-piece it’s stunning that their stage presence could match the epicness of a full orchestra and yet maintain a personal connection with the audience stronger than even the best open-mic singer/songwriters could achieve. But then, Sean and Ben fully embody the same not-at-all-serious US punk touring soul of Jeff Rosenstock and could have got an equally warm welcome if they had turned up with iPods instead of instruments. Ultimately, AJJ have made a sound so very unique to them that it has won them not fans, but friends worldwide, who every so often want to hang out at bars and sing along in a state of comfortable desperation about how shitty the outside world is. So yeah, come back soon guys. Please.

Stanley

The following video wasn’t recorded at the London show but you get the idea. Here’s the aforementioned performance of People II: The Reckoning at Wayward Council, FL.

Shepherds Bush Empire
08.10.10

Sublime in its original form never made it to the UK apparently. In fact, there are many of the band’s songs that were never performed in a live setting before original frontman Bradley Nowell died. And so original members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson have reunited with new talent Rome Ramirez (he’s a mere 21 years old) and are performing under the moniker Sublime With Rome. Shepherds Bush Empire is packed to the rafters tonight and it’s a sweaty beer-spilling affair with a chorus of voices constantly on hand to help Rome out with classic tracks such as ‘Date Rape’, ‘What I Got’ and ‘Ball And Chain’. His voice is uncannily similar to Nowell’s and the crowd welcomes him with glee as the band rattle off hit after hit.

In a set that comes close to two hours long, Eric, Bud and Rome have the audience rapt and everyone present is in such a good mood that you can’t deny this will be one of the highlights of the musical year for many of them. When the band leave the stage before performing the legendary ‘Santeria’, uproar ensues and it feels like the venue is going to collapse under the weight of severe stomping and urgings that the band should return to the stage. And return they do. A trio of tracks landing finally on everyone’s beloved ‘Santeria’ rounds off a night that will never be forgotten by anyone who was present to witness it. Currently working on a new album, Sublime With Rome are a force to be reckoned with.

Ribez Vibez

Below: Tubelord

with Tall Ships, Patrick James Pearson
Falmouth, 5 Degrees Below
4.10.10
Words and photography: Lionel Taplin

Stopping by the lovely Cornish port of Falmouth the travelling duo of Tubelord and Tall Ships cram into the cosy surroundings of 5 Degrees Below and turn the night into a well packed, highly inspired and justifiably sweaty show. It’s wet and its cold outside and there’s nowhere better to be than inside, watching some bands and sampling some local cider.

Local favourite Patrick James Pearson start the proceedings mangling his way through his highly original blend of Bowie inspired post-punk. The keyboard maestro furiously manipulates his sound into producing effectively wonderful songs, some moments even being reminiscent of …Trail of Dead and At the Drive In.

After a blistering performance it’s time for Tall Ships to contend their way on stage. Having attended Falmouth uni the trio are seen as local heroes and return to a rapturous welcome. As new recruits of the esteemed Big Scary Monsters label the band has to assert themselves amongst the most eclectic and vibrant bands around, such as Andrew WK, Walter Schreifels, Pulled Apart By Horses and tour buddies Tubelord. However strong their peers may be the Tall Ships really hold their own with their well crafted and unconventionally relaxed sounds. To describe them as math-rock may be justifiable enough; ‘Beanie and Dodger‘ is full of off-kilter rhythms, eccentric guitar loops and distinctive drumbeats. But it’s the groove about them that penetrates the band’s obvious technical abilities that makes them so fun and infectious, when they ended the set with their defining song ‘Vessels’ they had the whole crowd smiling and singing with joy.

Tall Ships making waves…

Tubelord are known producing some wonderfully crafted anthems such as ‘Ratchet’ and ‘Propeller’, and were guaranteed not to disappoint anyone who’s expectations were raised thanks to superb support acts. New song ‘Stacey’s Left Arm’ was delightfully erratic but the crowd played a deserving part in forming this intense set. From start to finish they were mouthing the words to every song and literally going mental, a pit even formed in the shoebox venue which guitarist Joseph Prendergast managed to penetrate and participate in. For me however, they lacked the overpowering groove that Tall Ships carved out earlier. Don’t get me wrong, Tubelord were great tonight and as rewardingly unconventional as their song-writing has proven to be, creating a warming experience for a cold and wet autumn night. But BSM’s newest recruits Tall Ships are probably going to be the ones making the biggest waves in the future.

Tubelord’s Joseph Prendergast went off!

Head here for an interview we did with Joseph Prendergast of Tubelord earlier this year and enjoy this video from the show from Nick Richards…

Buffalo Bar 3rd October Tubelord Gig from LovePaste on Vimeo.

Islington Academy
07.10.10

Having already brought his Gallic flair to Koko earlier this year as well as playing Glastonbury Festival, Jean-Christophe Le Saoût, the man known to most as Wax Tailor returned to the UK with a host of his friends to bring the party to North London on a grey and otherwise drab night.

Taking to the stage with a cellist, violinist and flautist and backed with a cityscape complete with three screens displaying moving animation, videos and other visual treats, the chapeau’d producer and DJ got proceedings underway with the bumping No Pity before introducing his long-time collaborator Charlotte Savary; who looked every inch the unassuming yet totally in control Amelie figure the fans have come to know and love for Dragon Chasers.

Whilst always showing his dexterity on the turntables, Tailor made sure that it was a show that was being viewed, rather than just a showcase of his own talents. With MC Mattic joining the fray, beanie pulled down over one eye and playful sneer on his face, the energy levels were ramped up that extra notch as hands pumped the air and feet got to stamping. The two worlds collided on the track Fireflies with a hypnotic backdrop mesmerising the crowd before the two MCs of ASM hit the stage for Say Yes, much to the delight of everyone in attendance.

The set, which lasted an hour and half, continued to enthrall, with Tailor taking centre stage for a medley of tracks and letting his live band do their thing, always imploring the crowd to give them the applause they deserved whilst calling for more call and response. The crowd interaction raised to fever pitch when Tailor asked for a singalong to Que Sera, a track which even the most hardened of football fans are happy to ring out loudly.

As the night ended, all the MCs and singers returned to the stage, each giving their own take on the hip hop beats and ended with a mass theatrical bow. The cheers and yelling that sounded out were very much deserved and showed Wax Tailor that he’d be welcomed back to the city anytime.

Abjekt

Bring Me The Horizon
with The Ghost Of A Thousand and Tek One
London Garage, 01.10.10

You would’ve thought that now it’s getting a bit chillier, the notoriously sweaty Garage might prove to be slightly less of a sweatbox. No such luck when a line-up such as tonight’s packs the venue to the rafters with eager bodies. Bring Me The Horizon are bringing their purposely-small-venue UK tour to a close in London tonight. The fact that this band could sell out this venue possibly as many as ten times over makes tonight quite the occasion. The line-up tonight also includes metal’s dubstep darlings Tek-One – complete with hype man and Brighton’s The Ghost of A Thousand.

During Tek-One’s bass-heavy set, I can actually feel my eyelashes vibrating. The wob is overwhelming but enhanced by the live drumming and the rather exuberant hyping up of the crowd. Unsurprisingly, the crowd is most hyped when BMTH’s Oli Sykes appears on stage for a Tek-One remix of one of their tracks. The sweaty affair continues with The Ghost of A Thousand. Some of the assembled crowd seem a little bemused by the rock’n’roll-tinged punk-rock TGOAT bring to the table but the band manage to get the majority of the room moving with their crafty riffs and top-notch drumming skills.

And now to the main event. The evening seems to have passed by pretty quickly so far and Bring Me The Horizon’s set continues that theme. It’s not particularly short in length but its brilliance means it feels short. The only new tracks included in the set – ‘Fuck’ and single ‘It Never Ends’ – from the band’s elaborately-titled third album ‘There Is A Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is a Heaven Let’s Keep It A Secret’ are received with every bit as much enthusiasm as the anthemic ‘The Comedown’, ‘Football Season Is Over’ and ‘Chelsea Smile’. ‘Fuck’ puts guitarist Jona’s vocal skills to the test with some serious melodies (sung by You Me At Six’s Josh Franceschi on the album) which he carries off with ease. This crowd is just as loud and pick up any lyrics Oli leaves out or points the mic at them for. Most people are pretty much singing / shouting along for the entirety of the set.

With their new album thrown into the mix, Bring Me The Horizon now have a rather large pool of ridiculously good material to pull from in a live setting. This is only going to make for more and more exciting live sets in the future. And it’s not like they were ever a band to be boring in the first place.

Chirps Galore

Islington Academy, London
25.09.2010

The Hell on Earth tour hit the capital this weekend, with the line-up of Thick As Blood, Down To Nothing, All Shall Perish, Terror and Every Time I Die lining up at the Islington Academy for a whole day’s worth of hardcore. Arriving as late as I did, I only caught the last couple of songs of Terror’s set which were as standardly macho and foot stamp-inducing as you’d expect from the band, which went down well with the hoards of steaming, sweaty fans in attendance.

But it was always going to be about the headliners and as soon as the Buffalo natives jumped on stage, there was no doubt who the party stealers were going to be. Every Time I Die are always fun and you can guarantee that their groove-laden riffs will bring smiles to the most miserable of crowds and Saturday’s showing did just that within seconds of the first track. Sporting a bushier-than-usual beard, Keith Buckley throw himself into the opening tracks with brother Jordan diving into the crowd in only the second song.

Rolling through both old and new material as well as a Nirvana cover, the band mixed in heavier favourites like Floater, I Been Gone A Long Time and Ebolarama which saw the already heaving crowd ramp up their energy that extra notch and tracks such as The New Black and We’rewolf were proof that this band are the most fun you can have with a guitar. Always good bantering with the crowd, Buckley told those watching that a certain word just wasn’t used in America, but that it meant almost nothing over here, before throwing down Bored Stiff, with the infamous “Hey girls, I’m a cunt” line.

When it came to the finale – the aforementioned We’rewolf – nigh-on 40 fans swarmed the stage for a sing-a-long before the huffy sound woman decided too much fun was being had and cut the sound. The sight of that many people in amongst the band [one girl even tapped Andy on the shoulder for a photo mid-song] with smiles on their faces just went to show what a great gig it was. A band as good as this just looking to party is what everyone wants. Thank fuck they love London so much eh?

Abjekt

Sadly there’s no clips from the London show online yet, but enjoy this pretty spectacular performance of We’rewolf at Antwerp the following day…

Cargo, London
10.09.10

At any normal gig, the sight of a grown man emerging from a spherical tent wearing what can only be described as a fluffy orange poncho, might seem somewhat out of the ordinary. Strange, even. This, however, is a Les Savy Fav show, where we have learned to expect the unusual, and fully embrace the eccentricity of the band’s front man Tim Harrington.

Les Savy Fav are now veterans of the alternative rock scene, I suppose, and the prospect of them playing in an intimate venue such as Cargo is massively exciting. Having just released their terrific new album Root For Ruin, the band lead off with its opener ‘Appetites’, before delving into a set inclusive of favourites old and new. As ever with the Fav, the band is left to hold the fort on stage while Harrington gets down amongst the crowd, who quickly develop into a tangle of mic cables and sweat.

The show is not without its hitches, as Tim’s offstage antics results in a few losses of sound mid-set. These minor glitches, however, are brushed off by Harrington, who incorporates them into his at times self deprecating sense of humour. Frequent attempts at stage diving also fall flat for the frontman, yet he is quickly lifted by the audience who in this moment look up at him as their king. Regardless of things that go wrong, Les Savy Fav are such an entertaining live band that the mistakes only seem to add to the raucousness of their performance.

Set highlights fall after the encore, as the band re-emerge with an inevitable costume change from Tim. It’s another fluffy outfit for the singer this time around, although this time it’s a full body black and white number. The band close with rousing renditions of live favourites ‘The Sweat Descends’ and ‘Rome’, which finish the show on a high. Another special performance for Les Savy Fav, then, but those that missed out shouldn’t worry, as the band return in November for a larger show at the Electric Ballroom.

Sleekly Lion

Read our album review of Les Savy Fav’s Root for Ruin here.

Les Savy Fav – Let’s Get Out Of Here by Crossfire Music

with B. Dolan & Scoobius Pip
London Scala, 16.09.10

When Sage Francis recently announced that his current tours would be his last, the backpack rap fan in me shed a tear. Whilst I’ve not been the biggest fan of the last couple of Sage albums, he’s always been one of the heavyweights of the independent rap world and his Sick Of… mixtapes, his Personal Journals album and the Non Prophets record he made with Joey Beats are still brilliant, years down the line. Having seen Sage a few times before, it was always going to be an entertaining send-off and he absolutely didn’t disappoint.

Arriving on-stage and tying his Strange Famous flag around his neck like a cape, he pressed play on his CDJ [and why does Sage need a DJ anyway?] and the party started. Tracks from his A Healthy Distrust album sounded huge on the Scala’s speakers [sounding arguably better than I’ve ever heard at that venue] with Sea Lion and Escape Artist kicking things off and immediately getting the crowd singing along, hanging on the MC’s every word. He dropped the original and previously unheard beat for Slow Man from his latest opus Li[f]e and then warmed my heart with Climb Trees, which garnered a resounding “if these walls could talk they wouldn’t shut the fuck up” and Broken Wings, complete with Sage’s miming to the original that he sampled.

Even though he’s a one-man show, without even any backdrop behind him, Francis has no problem in entertaining a sold out venue. During the upbeat drums of Dance Monkey, he provided the crowd with his own little dance routine and, though I’ve seen him perform a similar feat before, it is no less fun this time around. Little asides such as his line “Dubstep didn’t kill Johnny” and turning one of his tunes in Pokerface by Lady Gaga seem to fill him with as much joy as they do his fans and that’s the secret to the vibe tonight – just enjoy yourself.

Not letting up once, he ran through some major bangers – The Ain’t Right, The Cure [accapella] and Damage [during the encore, ably assisted by B. Dolan] from the Non Prophets Hope album, Gunz Yo and his brilliant Makeshift Patriot following his airing of America, Fuck Yeah, were grin-inducing. Even his Yann Tiersen produced The Best Of Days, which isn’t remotely bouncy, had the entire floor jumping up and down and crying out for more even when the encore was done.

If this is indeed the last time Sage ever plays London, then he’ll have done so in the perfect way. Old and new, happy and sad, the set list was brilliant.

Abjekt.

with The Heritage Orchestra
Premiere of Relentless Documentary ‘Lives of the Artists: Follow Me Down’
Union Chapel, 07.09.10

UNKLE fans were treated to an intimate and rare performance at London’s Union Chapel to celebrate the launch of the new Relentless Energy documentary ‘Lives Of The Artists: Follow Me Down’.

Accompanied with The Heritage Orchestra, James Lavelle was joined by his current UNKLE live collective Leila Moss (The Duke Spirit) Gavin Clark (Clayhill) and Joel Cadbury (South) who combined, delivered a powerful, intense and moving set following the premiere of the screening.

The soundtrack to the film was written exclusively by UNKLE and also features a new track named ‘Set No Sun’.

Filmed last year, ‘Lives Of The Artists – Follow Me Down’ sees the documentary explore a music artist’s journey (James Lavelle) in tandem with legendary backcountry snowboarders (Jeremy Jones and Xavier De La Rue), delving deep into their psyche and inner workings. Giving an insight into what drives them as individuals, the documentary spans from the infancy of their respective disciplines, to pioneering new routes and overcoming adversity. The story is a compelling one….

For James Lavelle we travel back to the conception of Mo’Wax ,the first incision of UNKLE and its fluid evolution though out its 20 year history , still striving to break boundaries which is still very much core to the collectives spirit.

We also see free-riders Jeremy Jones and Xavier De La Rue brave the slopes of the Antarctica – the first time to be attempted by any snowboarder- climbing steep faces unlike any other terrain both had experienced before. A life-long ambition for both adrenalin junkies, their story is both exhilarating and awe inspiring.

During the performance Lavelle dedicated a recent track ‘The Healing’ to the wife of one of the original founders of the UNKLE who had just passed was away whilst the documentary was being screened.

“I just want to dedicate this track to the wife of somebody who worked on this film. She died tonight. It was strange watching the documentary and getting a phone call about that.”

The set also saw the band performing a range of tracks across their back catalogue including ‘Lonely Souls’, ‘Reign’ (with Gavin Clark stepping in for Richard Ashcroft & Ian Brown on vocal duties) and material from ‘End Titles… Stories for Film‘.

‘Lives of the Artists: Follow me Down‘ is available to view on the Relentless site and as an added bonus, you can download a free remix of the ‘Set No Sun’ track here. Go grab it.

UNKLE played:

‘Forever’
‘Reign’
‘Heaven’
‘Ever Rest’
‘Against The Grain’
‘In A State’
‘The Healing’
‘Lonely Soul’

Nazlee Jannoo