Jungle
Jungle were one of the hotly anticipated acts of the week, which everyone seemed to be talking about. Did they live up to expectations?
There was an interesting thread on Facebook today, talking about how every gig review seems to not only be positive, but hyperbolic – with the same stock phrases coming up over and over again – “they took the roof off”, “amazing scenes”, “unprecedented” and so on, when in reality the band came out, played some tunes and left, pretty much like any band ever.
I think a lot of the reason for this is because most reviewers are volunteers, and you only volunteer to review the bands you like, so there’s a good chance that you like the gig if you like the band, but “yeah, it was a good night” doesn’t make good reading so people try to make it more interesting.
Take tonight for example, I chose to review Jungle because I like them – I loved the album when it came out, played it over and over, saw their videos (which are generally awful) that kind of tainted them for me a bit, but then I caught them at Glastonbury and loved every minute of their feelgood, easy-listening, catchy soul music.
Tonight, admittedly, a couple of the newer tracks that I hadn’t heard before didn’t grab me, but that could just be because I’ve been out 3 nights on the trot already and feeling tired, but the rest of the set I enjoyed.
On the other hand, if you can’t stand Jungle, then I don’t think there was anything to win you over tonight.
I decided to leave just before the end of the last song so that I could get home and get cracking on the photo editing and writing the review, and I couldn’t help but notice how happy the audience looked, absolutely everyone I passed seemed to be having a great time, dancing, singing along, and for me that’s what what live music should be all about.
Did they live up to expectations? I’d say yes without a doubt.
Stealing Sheep
I was already excited about Jungle being on the bill, but when I saw Stealing Sheep were supporting it was the icing on the cake! They are a class act, and the last time I saw them was at the Heavenly Recordings bash, so catching them again was long overdue.
They seemed more subdued tonight, wearing dark outfits (matching the dimly lit Invisible Wind Factory) rather than their more familiar multi-coloured leggings, but still very entertaining to watch and the music sounded as good as ever.
Makeness
Makeness are a band I wasn’t familiar with, and when I turned up I didn’t realise they’d actually started, I thought they were still sound-checking.
But a couple of songs in they became simply incredible. Perhaps even upstaging the headliners in my book.
It was early so only a small crowd had gathered by that point, but those who were there were certainly getting into them.
Definitely one to check out if you get the chance.
