Gig reviews

Yeah, I believe that I started this little thing where I write short reviews on the gigs I've been to each week two weeks ago. And already I've managed to completely forget this (though that might also have something to do with the film and popcorn/no, pizza!/film and popcorn and pizza?/film and popcorn and pizza it is! night we had last Sunday. So, gigs from last week and I'll add the gigs I've been to this week as well (yes:gigs. That's plural on a Tuesday).

Run Toto Run/O Children/Shy Child @ White Heat at Madame Jojo's Three bands on one night! And all three of them were really good! And all of that for just a fiver! And this night is on every single week of the year. Brilliant. And they've got amazing bands almost all of the time (some other bands I've seen/missed at this venue include Cold Cave, Esben and the Witch, Fool's Gold and New Young Pony Club (missed them twice!)). First up were Run Toto Run (kudos for the name), who sound La Roux should have sounded. Or would have wanted to sound like: straight from the 80s and danceable, and most importantly maybe: credible. The girl could actually sing live, though she did have a bottle of cough syrup at the ready. But maybe that last fact makes it just a bit more impressive. Second up were the band that I was actually there for: O Children. Even though the singer was on crutches (which were too small for him, as was the stage which caused him to have to duck while singing and while on miss-matched crutches) he still got the whole crowd going. Now this is a small venue, so when I say 'whole crowd' I'm talking about 200 persons tops. But still, that's quite impressive. But not as impressive as Shy Child were. After a 20 minute break after their first half song, in which they tried to get the bass pedals working (not much of a success unfortunately), they managed to get even O Children's crippled singer to dance. Their new record (coming out on the 1st of March) is gonna be ace.

Fiction/Goldhawks/Surfer Blood @ Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen  As I've already kind of written about this gig, I can be short. Fiction: Sound like how Yeasayer's new album should have sounded. Goldhawks: just ignore them. Surfer Blood: their album is really starting to grow on me. Give 'Harmonix' a listen. Or just the whole album. And they're really good live as well.

Surfer Blood @ Pure Groove Records Surfer Blood again? Yup. But this time in a record store, so it's for free! Again: really good, though I guess they could have used some of Run Toto Run's cough syrup by now. I guess they're just not used to this kind of weather, seeing as they're from Florida and all.

???/Talons/Johnny Foreigner @ Tutu's KCLSU The first band tonight kinda forgot to mention their name. Not that they were that interesting, but still, I'd like to know what I've heard. Talons did that bit a lot better, even though their music was instrumental which prevents them from too much banter. Hmm, lovely those guitars and violins. And noise, lot's of noise. Biggest mystery of the evening: the lead guitarist's Unox scarf (as in: the thing you get for free with 3 rookworsten). Didn't get a chance to ask him why he was wearing it. Second biggest mystery of the evening: the baffling amount of ginger JoFo fans. Seriously, where did they all come from? Isn't JoFo from Birmingham? That's nowhere near Scotland or Ireland! Nevertheless, JoFo were nice. Not good, not bad, just nice. If you would know all their lyrics by heart it might have been great, but for those who didn't (*raises hand*) it was just nice. They relied a bit too much on fans knowing each and every song inside out. And I have to give it to them, most of the people in the front of the room did, but this way you're not really expanding your fanbase. So unless I've missed the bit where they're massively famous already I would advise them to do otherwise.