As you get older but still love gigs and live music, sometimes your choice of smaller bands can get a little bit, er, samey. Older punks, older metalheads, older electronic bands and the like. So suddenly to be thrust into the middle of a large crowd of youngsters out to see a whole host of new bands is a bit disconcerting.
Vesper, a duo with vocals and jazzy rhythm guitar are on stage, Their smokey backroom songs delivered by a great singer are at odds with the venue (Jimmy’s) full on psychedelic light show. once my eyes get accustomed to the bright then dark then bright but all spinning luminescence it becomes easier to take their stripped down melodies in. There’s an unexpected moment were the guitarist having had too much feedback (oh the joys of acoustic guitars and big pa systems) and wanders over to the sound-desk to have a word mid song. Genuinely amusing in a way. I had to feel for the sound engineer who was probably explaining something like ‘move away from the speakers’ or the like for the umpteenth time but it was refreshing to see someone care so much about their performance.
Luta are making their gig debut tonight. Their first track is a portent of whats to come, the vocals are wrapped around a strong piece of songwriting and the band keep it all on point with plenty of space to develop the melody and the right amount of rushing forward once the song has been established. They ease into their first gig and soon are pushing forward, driving and receiving an enthusiastic crowd response.
There’s great song writing prowess on display here and musically Luta remain focussed on that. This enhances their performance. The songs are clear and direct, delivered by shining vocals that can sound fragile one moment and then full of strength the next and aided by an understated band that know when to turn it up and when to let the strong voice ride over it all.
Abi Rose Kelly is firmly in the rock area inhabited by Patti Smith. This is energetic stuff with great vocals and general all round musicianship but with that something extra. Abi moves around the stage like someone possessed, at times playing guitar at others just letting her big voice let rip and you can feel the energy vibrate from her through the band and off the stage through the audience who jump about and let rip vocally to cheer the band on.
At first Urbanparcs are a strange mixture to my ears, I can quite pin then down, this made me like them early on. Its always refreshing to find an odd mix, but one that works. These with their obvious musical flair and fronted by a charismatic singer, blend in funky baselines, Talking
Heads staccato type guitar jangle, semi-rap and full on groove. At all times they serve their groove musically. The audience bounce around joyously and even carry the ultra confident vocalist on their shoulders for a while with some crowd surfing going on.
So when we’re all watching our punk bands formed in 1986 and wondering were all the young bands are, they at gigs like this doing their own thing much like we did ours. Situation very hopeful for the future of live music.
Words: RBY, Photos: RBY / Adrian Wharton
Abi Rose Kelly Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abirosekellymusic
Abi Rose Kelly Web: https://abirosekelly.co.uk/
Urbanparcs: https://www.facebook.com/urbanparcs
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