This was one of those rare beasts where musically everything just
fell into place.
Multiple
bands over a whole day and no one dropped the ball once.
In fact
no one even fumbled it.
Exceptional
performances from one and all from start to finish, and all for
charity to.
So I
think everyone should collectively tip their had to Events for
Charities who had tirelessly organized an event over multiple venues
and days in aid of Yorkhill Children's Hospital.
It's
these sort of events that can be described as going above and beyond
the call of duty.
Outstanding
effort from everyone involved.
(Including
the DJ who feels excluded from all the reviews and comments about the
night)
(Insert
smiley emoticon here, maybe even one with a wink)
Brothel
Corpse Trio opened the show and I was personally very pleased to see
them there.
James
Edmond had seen them play a few nights earlier at a show I had
organized and immediately offered them a slot based on nothing more
than their performance.
Very
often gigs are offered to mates, on condition of how many punters a
band can pull, and a whole raft of other things that have nothing to
do with the music.
This was
different.
Their
inclusion on the bill was rooted in just how good they are as a live
band and nothing more than that.
From the
first song it was very obvious that as a band they wont be on the
bottom of the bill at anything for very much longer.
Each gig
has seen them pick up fans and the rise to the top of the bill looks
to be assured.
Hovering
in the no man's land between punk and psychobilly they are all about
the girls, the tattoos, the hot rods and necrophilia.
They are
going to have to get a t-shirt that says 'lock up your undead as the
Brothel Corpse Trio are in town'.
Next were
Buzzbomb meaning Billy was on double duty as he is also in The
Brothel Corpse Trio.
So with a
quick swap of a double bass to just bass he was back catching his
second wind to deliver with his band mates a torrent of punk rock.
It's all
well executed and sits comfortably between the sounds of the UK and
the US.
Hard
enough when it's needs to be, but always with an eye on the melody.
There's a
few bands over the years that I've seen multiple times and have yet
to see them post in a performance and Buzzbomb are one.
You don't
get anything less than a one hundred percent performance from these
guys.
The
Jackhammers portray the village idiot persona wrapped in the sounds
of garage rock.
They do
it so well that they blur the line leaving the audience to wonder how
much of it is actually a joke.
Close
your eyes to just listen to them and the sloppiness that the
spectacle promotes slips into the background and leaves the music to
do much of the talking, and then what you come to realize is that it
is all a joke.
One
that's perfectly executed.
These
guys can play, but for the uninitiated, or those who have had a
humour bypass op, they may not get it.
Worth
persevering with until you do get the joke though.
It's been
a whole year since I've seen the Skarsoles, and I guess absence does
make the heart grow fonder as I found myself thinking about how much
I'd missed them.
There's
nothing new in what they do.
It's pop
punk ska in all its glory, but damn they do it well.
It's just
a shame that people weren't up dancing to them.
The early
slot on the bill would be the reason for that because if you put them
in a room of drunken people at 9pm on a Saturday night then it would
instantly be party time.
Alkotron
for me are a show stealing act.
They slip
in quietly and then just go about their business without much fus,s
and I really can't put my finger on it, but come the cold light of
day they are the act that I always remember.
They are
probably the punkiest band on a punk rock bill because they refuse to
be mired down by uniformity.
From what
they play to how they dress others could mistakenly ask what so punk
about them.
That's
akin to the wood and trees argument.
It's that
they do not kowtow the perceived uniformity of punk rock that makes
them more punk than others.
The Red
Eyes are a band that I have run out of things to say about.
How often
can you realistically point out that they are consistently fantastic.
It's all
there. The song writing, the musicianship and the delivery.
Bloody
faultless, again.
It feels
that I am selling them short by not waxing lyrical for multiple
paragraphs, but all I woud be doing is reiterating what I have
already said countless times.
Goldblade
lost me over recent years.
It felt
like the rut had been driven deep, too deep, and even weeks prior to
this I seen them opening for the Misfits and found myself wondering
when the energy would return, when the passion for something
differenmt rather than the by numbers performances that I had gotten
used to, would be shaken off.
Then here
it was.
I
couldn't put my finger on what the difference was, but finally here
was the fork in the road and John Robb was turning his back on the
safe route and instead looking to lead the band to pastures new.
It was a
subtle difference, and maybe something to do with the new studio
album about to be released, but the energy had a more chaotic feel to
it rather than it just being a part of the show that people have now
come to expect.
If I had
strayed from the fold here I was being ushered back in.
John was
a dervish on stage and the band rock solid behind him.
I had
harboured serious thoughts of the performance ultimately being an
anticlimax to the night, but I was wrong.
Very very
wrong.
With this singular show they turned it all around and the Goldblade
with all the promise they showed when I seen them on their very first
UK tour was back.
