Caught in the Crossfire

The ICA – London
6th October 2006

It’s one of those nights at the ICA where all of the crowd have beards, yeah, even the girls! To be honest i don’t get involved with all this bearded fashion malarkey but i guess good rock and roll has always brought fuzz to venues since time began, and tonight will be no different.

Comets on Fire came on stage to ‘Dogwood Rust‘, the opening track of their amazing new album ‘Avatar’ which has got to be one of the most impressive albums to drop all year so far. It twists and turns with its dirty charm as singer Ethan Miller leads the pack with his psychedelic guitar solo’s that could assault the likes of Mudhoney and Monster Magnet at their given best, and still not be picked up by the pigs.

The gig is now rocking with ‘Jaybird‘ and the stage so dark that we could pick up the voice of drummer Utrillo Belcher mentioning to bass wizard Ben Flashman that he “could probably get away with having a wank back here and no one would notice!”…(i heard ya Belcher!)

This track though is a killer tune and deserves it’s hefty praise as this juggernaut continues to roll over the audience song after song with the oozing class of ‘Antlers of the MIdnight Sun‘ and ‘Swallows Eye’ leaving people in a pool of bliss alongside Lucifers Memory also from Avatar that sees the Comets get traditional like Bubble Puppy on the crowds aching ears.

Did i mention it’s fucking loud in here?! These guys do not muck about when it comes down to treading on pedals and the band move around the stage like they were caught on fire from each goddam one as they drop ‘Pussyfoot the Duke‘, ‘Bee and the Cracking Egg’, ‘Whiskey River’ ‘Holly Teeth’ and the electric ‘Ice Age‘ to finish the show.

If you get a chance to see this Santa Cruz outfit live, then don’t miss them for anything, this show was one of the best of the year and maybe by the time they come back to visit blighty again, I will have some bum-fluff ready for them.

Zac

And The Cardinals
Shepherds Bush Empire
30.09.06

There are few people who can get away with wearing a balaclava and cookie monster t- shirt and still look unbelievably cool, but Ryan Adams is one of those rare people. You could dress the man in a bin liner and he’d still pull it off somehow. On the first night of a sold out two night stand in Shepherds Bush, Ryan Adams has bought back his Cardinals for a long awaited band tour. With Adams it’s always a little hit and miss, you wonder if he’ll turn up slurring his words, telling wonderful endless tales, tailing off songs on a whim, or whether he’ll turn up at all.

Scheduled for a 9pm start, Adams saunters onto stage only 15 minutes late, a wry grin to the crowds and he’s off. ‘Please Do Not Let Me Go’ is hauntingly beautiful; the break to Adam’s voice catches the emotions. “I think my B string went to Burger King.” he shrugs as he retunes his guitar before a stunning, drawn out version of ‘Magnolia Mountain’ . Charming and unfairly talented, Adams has a certain charisma that no one really comes close to. We’re used to hearing his little tales on stage, but tonight the usual bottle of red wine is replaced by a red bull, and the usual cigarette hanging from him lips is absent.

‘Beautiful Sorta’ is just that, beautiful but with the ever present edge. Then it’s on with the balaclavas, for reasons..well I never quite caught the reason, but suddenly The Cardinals looks like 3 members of the IRA, apart from bassist Chris Feinstein who seems to have lucked out and gets stuck wearing a spaceman’s helmet, which he seems to have difficulty breathing in.

“Now its time for me to talk so you shut the fuck up or I’ll come down and sort you out”. Adams whips back to a heckler, “Or maybe I’ll just get someone to sort you out FOR me…” he adds grinning. And then he’s off on a tangent, the witty self-effacing artist we know and love. This time he’s singing the praises of McVities Cookies and their sleep inducing properties. He rambles for just a minute and then sighs “Now all the reviews are gonna be ‘ Oooh he talks too much’ “, which is met by pleas to just keep talking.

But the Adams we see tonight is very much more together than the swaying dreamer we saw a few months back, the sound is tight, maybe the months spent producing Willie Nelson’s new album have drummed some seriousness into him. The set is one hour, forty five minutes long without break, and there are plenty of new tracks showcased tonight, which unfortunately means less of our old favourites.

Tracks roll seamlessly into one another, an almost self indulgent jam on the stage. However despite the lack of old material, ‘Dear Chicago’ is beautifully put together and ‘Bartering Line’ is given an airing, a wonderfully angst driven and angry track. To top off the night it’s ‘The End’ which blends into a sublime rendition of an embellished ‘I See Monsters’.

Tonight Ryan Adams comes across as a professional, but it’s reassuring to see that the joker, the charmer, is still there, just underneath the surface. Whilst the music aficionados will rave that his performance when sober and controlled is a critical success, with Ryan Adams it’s the entire package which makes him such an enigmatic performer, and whilst it’s inspiring to see him so together, he doesn’t seem to be so happy-go-lucky as usual, and you can but hope he never loses that bohemian charm that inspires such a loyal following.

For further information check out www.ryan-adams.com

Dee Massey

Giant Panda
Jazz Café
01.10.06

Giant Panda’s Newman set the night off with a couple of funky jams before Maanumental hopped down the stairs at the Jazz Café and bounded on stage as they broke into Super Fly rapping that “and you don’t quit having fun and if nothing else its just to see you having fun and enjoy yourself”. There was no chance of that not happening as the two rappers danced their way around stage, beaming smiles and dance routines aplenty.

Running through their stand out tracks from their album Fly School Reunion, the two men loaded the crowd with feel good tunes and untold head nods, as tracks such as 90s, Grand Prix [complete with running man dance steps], With It and sing-a-long favourite TKO, flew by. They even plied us with a new track which was as bassy as the venue was packed and is a great taster for what is to come from the group. With missing member Chikaramanga making his presence felt with a little message played on vinyl, Giant Panda cemented themselves as a brilliant live act.

Standing by the stage after the Giant Panda set, I thought that this would be another case of the support upstaging the main act, but, as good as GP were, Thes One and Double K brought their A game and blew every single person in the crowd away. Starting off with the already-classic Pass The 40 from new album Stepfather, both rappers got ready for the rest of the evening. The big-framed Double K bopped around in front of the crowd whilst Thes One sweated out every last ounce of energy by jumping, bouncing and thrashing through every track.

The crowd weren’t just treated to songs either, with Double K throwing in a deep beatbox whilst Thes freestyled, bringing the crowd’s noise to an unbearable crescendo which only got louder when Double K rapped whilst scratching on the decks and Thes One played the MPC with his face. The duo really knew what it meant to put on a good show and so the fun didn’t stop there. With tracks like Acid Raindrops, San Francisco Knights and The LA Song sounding even better live than they do on record, it was fun all the way.

But the best part of their set was the return of Giant Panda to the stage. Thes One expended so much energy that he dropped onto his back on stage and Double K implored the audience to get him back to his feet, as Newman and Maanumental waved the towel of Thes’ face to try and revive him. When Hang Loose dropped, Thes was revived and jumped to his feet whilst the GP boys invited girls on the stage and turned the entire place into a jumping frenzy.

If you weren’t there, you lose sucker.

Abjekt
[Photos by Jen Saul]