The Rakes @ Norwich UEA

In the era of their debut album Capture/Release, a Friday night would have been an apt time for a Rakes gig; a band who built their edgy, post-punk stylings around stories of work, work, work, pubbing, clubbing, and sleeping, especially with those who may seem undesirable in the cold light of day – the lyric “she was overweight, what did I do last night?” seems to sum it up succinctly – think Hard-Fi (if you can bear it) but far less awful. But this is 2007, and the band have inevitably moved on – their new album Ten New Messages showcasing a more expansive sound and altogether bigger issues – life and racial tensions in London post-7/7, for one. Unfortunately they seem to have been beaten to this concept by a matter of weeks by Bloc Party, but typically the NME have decided that the popularity of The Rakes should be over, scandalously giving the album 5/10 in a recent review – surely the Arctic Monkeys backlash will come shortly also. The enthusiastic and interestingly diverse from expectations crowd at this particular Friday night Norwich UEA gig, however, seemed uninterested in what any increasingly out of touch, sensationalist, essentially tabloid music weekly has to say about one of the best bands to come out of the post-Franz explosion.

I have little to say about the support acts; Norwich’s fine transport system transpired to allow us to miss first support band Love Is All, yet I imagine they were much the same as when they supported Regina Spektor at the Astoria last month – see previous review. The Holloways were the main support band, and while they generated interest from the enthusiastic kiddies at the front, they seemed a fairly average Libertines-esque indie rock band.

I first saw The Rakes alongside Editors as a relatively unknown support band to Franz Ferdinand in the cavernous Alexandra Palace two years ago – despite being a fan at the time, I recall they seemed lost in such a large venue. Yet in the confines of the UEA’s Lower Common Room they create a frenzied atmosphere, no doubt enhanced by the vibrant lighting setup and lead singer Alan Donohoe’s well-documented jerky dancing style – think Ian Curtis, but apparently he’s no influence – which got the crowd moving in imitation from the off. The angular post-punk guitar of the music itself does tend to lend itself to throwing shapes, with the band rattling through tracks from both albums in their tight set. Retreat, Strasbourg and a raucous 22 Grand Job elicited the biggest reactions from the crowd, many obviously unfamiliar as yet with much of the recently released new album – however new single We Danced Together, the catchy Trouble, excellently titled When Tom Cruise Cries and “one for the girls” Little Superstitions all went down well. Early b-side Ausland Mission and one-off single All Too Human also received airings, with the latter particularly well received. The classic Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep) from their debut rounded off the main set, and an encore including Open Book with its singalong refrain and a truncated version of the originally near-18 minute The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect ended the gig, written as a commission for a fashion show and now forming the opener to the new album (thankfully clocking in recorded at a much more manageable five minutes).

We were able to meet the band after the gig and they were very friendly chaps with a lot of time for their fans; The Rakes are fully deserving of reaching the heights of a number of their contemporaries. Whether the NME with their obvious influence on the flavour of the month will allow this to happen seems to be in doubt, but Donohoe’s comments in his mid-set banter on the review seem to suggest he doesn’t particularly care, and nor should those with any taste for a decent British guitar rock band not afraid to break away from their safety net.

Brakes @ Paradiso

The pineapple seen in the background was thrown into the audience before "a song about animals and fruits", 'Porcupine or Pineapple'

After being a fan of singer Eamon Hamilton's previous band British Sea Power (he was temporarily recruited to play keyboards at their live shows) I was very curious about his newest project, Brakes.

Their support act was Spinal Tap-esque heavy metal band Saxon. By support act I mean the entrance to the small hall (where Brakes were playing) is opposite the entrance to the balcony of the main hall, so the few people who arrived early for Brakes found themselves waiting amongst headbanging bikers. It was an experience I was prepared to forget until I turned around and saw the whole of Brakes were watching too.

After a few songs I walked over to the small hall convinced it should be filling up by then. Evidently, I was wrong:


By the start of their 30 song set, which included a mix of tracks from their two albums, a few b-sides and two Camper Van Beethoven covers ('We Saw Jerry's Daughter' and 'Shut us Down'), there were about 60 people in the hall.

The band surprised me with their ability to capture the sort of energy you'd expect from a punk band when playing songs they described as "jangly guitar pop" and "barndance country" and several 10 second tracks such as 'Cheney', with lyrics like " ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR. Cheney, Cheney, Cheney.... Cheney, Cheney, Cheney, Cheney... STOP BEING SUCH A DICKKKKK". The audience was fantastic, I think this was partly due to the fact that there were a group of about 10 people who had been following them on this tour and were therefore extremely enthusiastic (starting a Cotton Eye Joe style barndance during Brakes' Johnny Cash cover "Jackson", for example).

The band seemed to really be enjoying themselves, so much so that guitarist Tom White got through about 4 changes of guitar due to broken strings. However, I'm certain that singer Eamon Hamilton had enough energy in his voice alone to captivate the audience. This is a band that are infinitely better live than on record, and judging by the size of the audience last night, they are terribly underrated in that respect.

Amongst the highlights of the gig for me was 'No Return', their most mellow track, where drummer Alex took to the guitar. Eamon's voice really shone on such a quiet song and the sounds coming from Tom White's guitar were quite simply stunning. During their set closer, 'Huevos Rancheros' (direct translation= Spicy Eggs), Tom jumped into the audience during his solo and proceeded to throw himself about in front of the stage.

Brakes definitely set themselves apart in my mind from any of the bands that they have been compared to so often (The Rakes, The Futureheads, etc) and it was a highly enjoyable experience.

The Shins @ The Astoria

Another NME Awards Show at the Astoria brought The Shins back across the water for their first proper UK gig since the release of third album Wincing the Night Away. The album went to number 2 in the US Billboard charts upon release, showing their development into a more mainstream market in their home country – they may not have reached similar levels in the UK, but a long sold-out Astoria welcomed them back to the UK enthusiastically. Before that, however, three support acts graced the stage. First on were Alberta Cross, a folk-rocky four piece with lots of hair who were, I thought, reminiscent at points of Turin Brakes. Their set was enjoyable and worth investigating further.


The next support act I was very excited about seeing: I first heard about Texas band Voxtrot around April last year, and, having talked incessantly about them to all and sundry since then, I was delighted to be able to see them on their first trip to the UK. Their set included songs from their three so-far released EPs, kicking off with Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives and later Soft & Warm, Raised By Wolves and luckily squeezed in at the end due to a couple of spare minutes, their most known song, The Start of Something. When given the opportunity to be free from his guitar in Your Biggest Fan, lead singer Ramesh Srivistava bounced around the stage like a man possessed. Having already blogged about them a few weeks back I won't go into just why they're so great, but their self titled debut album featuring entirely brand new material, none culled from the EPs, will be released in May and it should be a highlight of the year's releases.

The third and final support act were Manchester's Polytechnic. I'd heard their name in various places before but wasn't sure what to expect from them: it turned to be an enjoyable but fairly uninspiring set of indie rock. They don't seem to have been making many waves in the industry of late, so I was surprised that they were main support rather than Voxtrot, who have an ever-increasing fanbase and a sound closer to that of the headliners, who made their entrance at just past 9pm. An extended intro to new album opener Sleeping Lessons built up the anticipation in the crowd before they raced through the first four tracks to the album in order, declaring it to be "face-meltingly awesome". One of the biggest cheers of the night came next for the classic Kissing the Lipless, with New Slang, Caring Is Creepy, Saint Simon and set closer So Says I from their first two albums also delighting the audience, who sang every word back at James Mercer. They also included a cover version in their encore, apparently by The Modern Lovers. I found it fairly unremarkable, but the band seemed to be enjoying themselves, frontman Mercer leaving his bandmates to deliver the crowd banter throughout the set. The addition of a new keyboardist has certainly 'rocked-up' their live sound in comparison with the recorded versions, and after hearing previous reports of them being a disappointing live act, they dispelled this with a great performance showing them to be worthy of their increasing success.

Guillemots @ The Octagon, Sheffield

Possibly the best concert experience I've ever had.

My sister and I had just stepped out of the hotel and were walking towards the venue when in the distance, 20 metres away, I recognised someone who was walking towards us. As she got closer I realised it was Arista and that Magrão, Greig and a few roadies were following a few metres behind. After they'd passed us, me and my sister stopped and turned around to see them walking into a restaurant just opposite our hotel.

After a failed attempt at snapping a photo of the restaurant window from outside, my sister convinced me that I was a wimp and would be missing out on meeting one of my favourite bands if I didn't go in.. so I did. After apologising for disturbing their meal, we got a photo with them, left the restaurant, went around the corner and squealed a bit.


Two hours later...
On the way into the concert Magrão stopped me and my sister, much to our surprise/delight, and handed us VIP passes.

The concert itself was fantastic. They played a lot of crowd favourites such as 'Made-Up Lovesong #43', 'Annie, Let's Not Wait' and 'Trains to Brazil' as well as less popular EP tracks like 'She's Evil' (where Magrão takes centre stage), 'The Dormouse and the Meerkat' (a b-side rarely played live) and four new songs. Fyfe also played a memorable solo acoustic version of 'We're Here'.

After asking the "Golden Ticket" holders to come backstage, they band proceeded into their final song, 'São Paulo'. We were given labcoats and then, during the final half of the song, we were led onstage by a roadie and told to hit a large metal bird with the drum sticks we'd been given. We happily obliged. When the song ended we were led backstage to have a few beers with the band and the rest.. well, that's saved for the deep inner faults of my mind (and possibly my livejournal..).

The morals of this entry.. stalk your favourite bands, always accept VIP passes (apparently they have a lot of trouble finding people to accept them!!) and.. look out for members of Guillemots before the show if you ever go and see them.




Photographs courtesy of my sister.

Regina Spektor @ The Astoria

The pleasingly central location in London of the Astoria was the setting for one of the many NME-branded Award Shows, showcasing a diverse range of headliners and a larger than normal set of support acts. First up to support Regina Spektor was Only Son, an unintelligible New Yorker who gained nothing from the sound setup in the venue. Using an iPod as his backing band, he strummed his way through a series of unremarkable yet fairly pleasant songs. He ended his set with a bizarre 'acceptance speech' for nothing in particular which no one could understand.

Next on stage were Brinkman, a three piece London band playing fairly standard Britpop, but an enjoyable performance with the standout track being the heartfelt A Real Thunderbolt which has been a favourite of mine for a few weeks. Sweden's Love Is All were the third support band, and they were very Swedish indeed. Punky, energetic indie pop with a shouty female singer and enthusiastic saxophonist who refused to allow Regina Spektor's grand piano, taking over much of the stage, stop him from pogoing about as much as possible.

After more music over the PA from a DJ with a Radiohead fixation (5 tracks were counted through the course of the evening), Regina Spektor made her way onstage and delivered a stunning unaccompanied Ain't No Cover and from then onwards she had the crowd transfixed. The majority of her set came from her two most recent albums Soviet Kitsch and 2006's Begin to Hope. She also played fan favourites such as Bobbing for Apples and Baby Jesus.

For the second half of the set, Regina was accompanied by a band, unlike her most recent visit to the UK. Songs like Carbon Monoxide and Better were reproduced far closer to their recorded counterparts than had previously been seen at Regina's shows.

Regina was amazing, showing off her vast range of vocal talents as well as piano and the odd bit of guitar. Her personality shone through the songs; no other performer could ever get away with covering her. A truly captivating, brilliant gig.

Patrick Wolf @ The Junction 2

February 2007 has possibly been the best month I have ever experienced gig wise. I've played my first proper gig as well as going to see the likes of The Decemberists. With Regina Spektor to come this evening and The Shins later in the month you'd be forgiven for forgetting about Patrick Wolf and his relatively lowly levels of stardom. On the basis of this performance, ignoring him would be a great sin against the world.

He played in a small theatre type venue in Cambridge known as the Junction 2. At only 300 capacity the gig couldn't be described as anything but highly intimate. The gig began with the weirdest/scariest support act I have ever seen in my life; "No Bra" (literally). No Bra is a 6ft naked she-male (complete with moustache), mumbling her depraved insanities over simplistic techno. Personally I found it both hilarious and scary in equal measures. Yes, if she'd taken one step forward I would have taken two back, but at the same time when she moved onto another purely shocking topic it still raised humoured eye brows.

After an inordinately long wait Patrick Wolf entered the stage to face a crowd that had started to grow increasingly impatient. His stage presence and charisma was magnificent; I'd been expecting a slightly over-theatrical kid, but instead he paraded the stage with elegance. Playing through a good selection of songs from his two released albums, and new effort The Magic Position, everything sounded perfect other than, strangely, the ukulele, which sounded horribly tinny and scratchy - like the strings were far too tight or something.

Highlights for me were my new favourite The Stars and emphatic closer The Magic Position.

Arcade Fire Vs The Decemberists

After having so much to do recently my review of seeing Arcade Fire live late last month got pushed back and back. All the way until past me seeing The Decemberists a week ago today. So now instead of writing about both the events separately, I'm going to face them off against each other in a North American, Canada vs USA, fight to the death.

The first of the two gigs took place in St John's Church, Westminster. The church's large stage is normally put to use for orchestras but took a break from it's classical background to welcome Canada's finest, Arcade Fire. In fact they seemed slightly out of ease with the run of three concerts, not even publishing them in their official listings for the month.

The band ran through 10 of the 11 songs from their new album, the aptly titled (for the surroundings) Neon Bible. To my vast disappointment only a couple of songs from the band's debut, Funeral were bellowed around the church. A couple more songs really wouldn't have gone amiss, as without a support act, and a set length of only 1 hour 15 minutes did make the gig seem a little short (especially considering all the traveling I had done that day to get there).

The performance of course though was outstanding, with up to 10 members on-stage at once, all singing at the top of their voices whilst playing a powerful mix of unusual and not-so-unusual instruments. Everything sounded perfect, acting as a real compliment to the acoustics of the church. The talk-about moment of course had to be the unexpected acoustic, mid-crowd, performance of The Clash's Gun's of Brixton which opened the gig. Megaphones, a double-bass, and a mandolin, made this a very different kind of cover. The picture above (taken by me of course :P) is of Win standing on a chair in the middle of the crowd mid-song.

Eight days later The Decemberists took the stage at the far more normal venue of Shepherd's Bush Empire. To begin they played absolutely breathtaking performances of The Crane Wife and Island, Come and See, The Landlord's Daughter, You'll not Feel the Drowning. Performances which I would have been very happy with as highlights of the evening, only they were not; there was not a single song The Decemberists performed that didn't have me spellbound. They performed songs from all of their albums giving the crowd, in my opinion, almost exactly what they wanted (of course if the crowd had been just me, the crowd wouldn't have been so happy with the lack of The Gymnast, High Above the Ground).

The showmanship of The Decemberists almost stood out even more than the songs themselves. They got the crowd participating in a surprisingly large range of activities. Front man Colin Meloy started these proceedings with a bout of "mid-show calisthenics" and this was followed by the old splitting the crowd into several large choirs to sing in 16 Military Wives. Whilst we've all been in a crowd doing this kind of thing before, it really worked here, and I enjoyed it far more than I'd ever expect to. A devastatingly good rendition of Sons and Daughters climaxed with the whole crowd smiling wholeheartedly whilst bellowing out "Hear all the bombs, they fade away" with their exhausted voices. Several crowd members even got to go on stage and bounce around with Colin Meloy, who was obviously enjoying himself, which is always nice to see.

The fun continued right through into the two encores with guest appearances from Robyn Hitchcock and Mike Scott (who are a little unknown to someone my age, but evidently from the reaction of the crowd, not to everyone else). They finished the evening with a highly unexpected reenactment of part of the American civil war during A Cautionary Song, where the crowd were split down the middle so we could scowl at each other from the opposite sides of the battle.

Whilst both gigs won't be forgotten by any of there attendees easily. Arcade Fire were forced into retreat by the sheer amount of smiling The Decemberists caused. It wasn't the songs that put Decemberists far and above on top for me, but instead the showmanship; those little extras that showed the crowd that the band really cared about making sure their fans have a good time. All other bands should take note and follow The Decemberists' example.