Friday 1 April 2011

King Blues, Sonic Boom Six and Random Hand

So this week I went to see the kind of line up which would have caused a wet dream in my youth and now at the age of twenty four excites me just as much but I have developed coping mechanisms for such excitement.

Joking aside this one one of the most exciting line ups I have seen in a very long time, it's not often you get to see three headline quality acts for the price of one (unless you come to Thirsty and Miserable shows of course). Opening the night with Random Hand is like waking up to your alarm on buzzer from the very first moment of the intensely compact set these young men from Yorkshire tore the stage up. With tracks from their new record sounding every bit as catchy as the older material. I can safely say Random Hand are one of the UK's most exciting live bands and every time I see them I enjoy them even more.

Sonic Boom Six were next to take the stage and delivered the genre clashing brilliance I have grown to love over the past decade in which I have seen them play umpteen times. They are a band who in my opinion will never surpass their first two albums but I think my love of these is partially due to the memories tracks on them hold rather than the music being superior. As the band develop their sound further it does become more and more varied allowing almost anyone to watch them live and find areas they enjoyed. I could never accuse SB6 of not putting 100% into their live performance and this was another fine example of how to successfully blend vast musical influence into a fantastic live set.

Last up were the King Blues who began the show with a ferocious track from the new album which in Itches own words is 'a modern day punk album' and the new material did not disappoint in this way at all it's heavy and political passion is beautifully delivered. It was however the mixture between old and new which created an unforgettable live set for me  the combination of the three albums work was almost like skipping through the greatest hits of The King Blues and made me realise just how much I have enjoyed this band and how many amazing tracks there are in their back catalog.

It was not until the encore where two moments took my breath away firstly Itch delivered a beautiful entitled '5 Bottles of Shampoo' to a stunned audience who stayed quiet (mostly) for the full duration of the poem. The second moment was also the moment that made me realise exactly how important music is to politics to hear an entire audience interject into a song with the words 'Going to war to prevent war, is the most stupid thing I've ever heard' was both powerful and emotive.




It looks like 'Punk and Poetry' will be one of the albums of year regardless of my opinion but I've got to say I can't wait to hear it and see how it's received.  



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