29th in the Acadamy in Dublin.
30th in Mandella Hall in Belfast.
Still the most raucous gig I've been at all year.
Tickets on sale this morning.
Showing posts with label British Sea Power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Sea Power. Show all posts
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Bristish Sea Power - Whelan's - Dublin
OR
The first great gig of 2008
OR
The most raucous gig I've seen in Whelan's in years
When, midway through a concert, a guy in a cape takes a break from playing keyboards and an air raid siren and starts crowd surfing across the audience whilst playing a tuba you're left with no other option then to suspect that you're not at an ordinary gig. When that's one of the lesser pieces of over the top band/audience interaction that takes place over the course of the night you have to conclude that you're right.
Even before British Sea Power march onto the Whelan's stage to the strains of "We Close Our Eyes" from this month's Do You Like Rock Music you get the impression that they're a band that puts quite a bit of time, effort and thought into their live performances. Gone are the plants that were previously part of the set, they've been replaced by flags draped over the amp speakers and hanging from the rear wall of the stage. When they do arrive, variously dressed as some sort of dandy Dutch highwayman, a medieval serf farmer and most strikingly, in the case of guitarist Martin Noble, as some sort of tribute to Dr. Tobias Fünke during the period that the world's first Analrapist was understudying for the Blue Man Group.
All of that would of course be for nought if the band didn't have the chops and the tunes to back up the outfits and decorations, fortunately they have both in spades. British Sea Power are simply incendiary and despite their somewhat fey appearances they have what very few bands have on stage, a genuine air of danger and a sense that almost anything can happen when they’re playing. One member of the band returns for the encore via the balcony and recently installed lighting rig, Noble wades into the crowd while playing guitar on one song and later during the closing, semi-improvised "A-Rock" he abandon his instrument entirely in favour of being carried atop the crowd.
In fact, it's during that final song when things really turn chaotic, one fan scales the speaker stacks in an attempt to repeat the aerial stage entrance from before in reverse and dangles from the rigging for a minute before swinging onto the stage and launching himself into the crowd. This sparks off a mass stage invasion and a rash of crowd surfing the like of which I've never seen in Whelan's before. Ultimately it's only the heretofore absent venue security than can calm the fervour of band and crowd as one by one a series of burly, black suited men appear on the stage and shepherd people back into the crowd. "I think they want us to stop," says Noble. They'd be the only people in the joint that do. If this is rock music then yes, I do like it.
The first great gig of 2008
OR
The most raucous gig I've seen in Whelan's in years
When, midway through a concert, a guy in a cape takes a break from playing keyboards and an air raid siren and starts crowd surfing across the audience whilst playing a tuba you're left with no other option then to suspect that you're not at an ordinary gig. When that's one of the lesser pieces of over the top band/audience interaction that takes place over the course of the night you have to conclude that you're right.
Even before British Sea Power march onto the Whelan's stage to the strains of "We Close Our Eyes" from this month's Do You Like Rock Music you get the impression that they're a band that puts quite a bit of time, effort and thought into their live performances. Gone are the plants that were previously part of the set, they've been replaced by flags draped over the amp speakers and hanging from the rear wall of the stage. When they do arrive, variously dressed as some sort of dandy Dutch highwayman, a medieval serf farmer and most strikingly, in the case of guitarist Martin Noble, as some sort of tribute to Dr. Tobias Fünke during the period that the world's first Analrapist was understudying for the Blue Man Group.
All of that would of course be for nought if the band didn't have the chops and the tunes to back up the outfits and decorations, fortunately they have both in spades. British Sea Power are simply incendiary and despite their somewhat fey appearances they have what very few bands have on stage, a genuine air of danger and a sense that almost anything can happen when they’re playing. One member of the band returns for the encore via the balcony and recently installed lighting rig, Noble wades into the crowd while playing guitar on one song and later during the closing, semi-improvised "A-Rock" he abandon his instrument entirely in favour of being carried atop the crowd.
In fact, it's during that final song when things really turn chaotic, one fan scales the speaker stacks in an attempt to repeat the aerial stage entrance from before in reverse and dangles from the rigging for a minute before swinging onto the stage and launching himself into the crowd. This sparks off a mass stage invasion and a rash of crowd surfing the like of which I've never seen in Whelan's before. Ultimately it's only the heretofore absent venue security than can calm the fervour of band and crowd as one by one a series of burly, black suited men appear on the stage and shepherd people back into the crowd. "I think they want us to stop," says Noble. They'd be the only people in the joint that do. If this is rock music then yes, I do like it.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
First Impressions: British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music
British Sea Power are a band that I've previously ignored for some reason. Perhaps it's because they're a British band from this decade signed to Rough Trade which meant that that I assumed that it wouldn't be my thing (that's being a little unfair on Rough Trade, the fact that they're a British band from this decade would be a more appropriate reason for dismissing them), perhaps it's due to their connection with the utterly risible Brakes (worse than The Cribs) or maybe it's due to the fact that someone told me once that they decorated the stage with foliage when they played live and I thought "fuck that".
Nonetheless hearing a decent tune being played on the radio yesterday coupled with enthusiastic praise from a friend whose tastes I broadly share as well as a number of really positive reviews resulted in their latest opus soundtracking my trip into Dublin today to finally pick up a few albums on vinyl that I'd only had in MP3 format previously (see, illegally downloading stuff does lead to records being sold ... six months later ... when I've decided that I really like the album) and my initial thought is that I really should check out their first 2 albums because this one is really rather good. Apparently British Sea Power have been compared to Joy Division previously and I can kind of see why they might, it's a horrible thing to say but if Editors weren't completely shit and actually got the Joy Division thing right they might sound like British Sea Power. But it's a little unfair to pigeonhole BSP in those terms as they've got ambitions far beyond merely being rip off merchants. Their music is epic and sweeping and all very grand and despite it being quite overwhelming and gloomy at times it can also be really pretty with an almost pastoral quality making it's way into the mix. Like at the start of this song.
MP3: British Sea Power - No Lucifer from Do You Like Rock Music
British Sea Power play Spring and Airbrake, Belfast on 17th January and
Whelans, Dublin on 18th January and in spite of the greenery and stuffed animals they're said to be an exceptional live band.
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