Los Campesinos!, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Sky Larkin – Live! Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh! Tuesday 16th October 2007!
My good god what a paedo-gig this was! Fucking hell. I felt positively creepy sneaking in, with my grey hair and my burgeoning squishyness around the middle. They very kindly gave the dinosaurs a bracelet signifying that we were really quite old and thus should be allowed into the bar area. Christ I needed one, but quite why they thought it was a good idea to let an inveterate old pervert like myself drink in the presence of so many teenage girls, all hell bent on proving their maturity, is anyone’s guess. It would have been far safer to let them get pissed and keep me sober, honestly.
‘Won’t someone think of the children!’
‘I was officer, that was largely the problem.’
Erm, anyhow, the gig. Yes, not bad at all actually. I came along primarily to treat myself to some live music after my rotten last two weeks at work, where I’ve been completely overloaded and stuck in the office all day every day for a fortnight. Six quid, I thought, was an excellent price for three up-and-coming buzz bands about whom I have heard great things.
Sky Larkin – These lads started us off, and although I missed their first couple of songs I really liked what I heard. Their punchy, spiky pop songs carried a tune very well in the live setting and Katie, who does most of the chat, came across as charming and witty. She can bloody sing too. They were by far the most traditionally indie of the lot – by which I mean a certain style of guitar band, rather than a strict description of the label they are on – so maybe the ones I most expected to like. And so it proved.
Sky Larkin – Summit
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You Say Party! We Say Die! – Fucking punctuation in band names should be bloody outlawed, grumble grumble. Not entirely my cup of tea this lot, but that’s a comment based on taste, not quality. They gave a terrific live performance and the lovely Becky Ninkovic was an 80s indie goddess par excellence, ably foiled by the relaxed and amusing Derek Adam on guitar and the slightly mental Devon Clifford on drums. So their music may not be my scene entirely, but the do a great show and I would definitely recommend you catch them if you get the chance. Assuming you like their tunes of course.
You Say Party! We Say Die! – Opportunity
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Los Campesinos - The biggies, the main headline act, the highlight of the evening. I don’t know what the term is for this sort of guitary male/female indie spunk-pop but it is a definite movement at the moment, and not one that overlaps with my own taste an awful lot. It does in places though, and Los Campesinos!?#@** are as close to Toad territory as anyone. As with the other bands on the evening, they gave a top show and, although I don’t love the music especially, I ended up with a real liking for the band. Maybe I am too entrenched in my traditional verse-bridge-chorus ways to appreciate this stuff properly, but I am definitely enjoying it when I hear it live. Either this is a product of a slowly changing mind, or perhaps the energy of the genre gets the better of my resistance to the music in a live setting.
All in all it was an excellent evening’s music, and six quid very well spent indeed. I like getting slightly out of my comfort zone from time to time with live stuff. Often just being part of other people’s euphoria for these new things helps you understand better what all the fuss is about. Ultimately I will probably only end up pursuing Sky Larkin on record, but I’d heartily recommend seeing the other two if you are even slightly that way inclined.
Los Campesinos! – The International Tweexcore Underground
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I share your annoyance at bands with punctuation in their names, silly bands. but YSP!WSD! (as they are called by the cool people, me not being one of them)”in my opinion” make pretty fantastic music, so I forgive them their exclamation marks.
I like Sky Larkin. I presume you saw their wild drummer. I liked him particularly…
No Tim, I had to stand up the back and Cabaret Voltaire is a dreadful venue so I couldn’t see much. The space itself is shit, but they’re getting some really good bands in at the moment, and you don’t get a lot of choice in Edinburgh.
I really liked all three of these bands actually Hannah. They all performed like groups who are going places. I don’t know how to describe it, but there was a sort of confident solidity about them all onstage, rather than the tentative aura you sometimes get from relatively new bands.
our esteemed colleague colin has been championing sky larkin for a while now, so i’m glad to hear they were wonderful live. i don’t suppose any of these bands make it across the pond very often, but i could be wrong.
seeing a band live very often changes my opinion of their music–usually for the better. there’s something about the energy, as you say, of everyone in the room, especially their diehard fans, that simply ignites the music. provided they’re not total duds, that is.
i second your paedo paranoia. half these bands only sell skinny t-shirts, too. eat some pies, kids!
I do so love the magical sounds of Sky Larkin but having seen them play once I would NEVER go and see them again. It just did not feel right at all. Some sounds, in some live venues, really do need to be left to ‘the kids’. I’m content playing them on my headphones and dancing in my kitchen. Then I can have a nice sit down and a cup of tea.
Ach I don’t mind being the old git at these things. My grey hair isn’t so visible in the dark and I just stand in the middle towards the back and tap my feet appreciatively. If The Kidz(TM) want to look at me funny then let them.
Actually, I spoke to a girl recently who was about eighteen and when she found out that I was over 30 and married her jaw kind of dropped in total incomprehension that she could be talking to someone that old on an equal basis. It was funny – I don’t feel older, but some of these lot are starting to treat me that way. It’s funny really, but I don’t mind.
Anyway, good gig, and I am not letting the askance looks from nervy teenagers put me off going to see what I like.
i’ve gotten over being the oldest person at the show. i figure as long as i’m not trying to act or look as young as the kids, then i’m not too out of place. although i do admit to scanning the crowd just to see if there’s anyone there older than me. there usually is.
occasionally i use my age to my advantage and pull out my authoritarian mom voice. i remember one time when this young, drunk obnoxious woman (i use the term loosely) tried to bust her way into my space–there was no way i was putting up with that kind of nonsense–and i let her know it! i pretty much have no fear in these situations any more. let ‘em try to fuck with me! they’ll be sorry.
i take it you REALLY hate !!! then Mr. Toad?!
I find it too hard to get past the teeth-grindingly irritating name. To be honest, I couldn’t so much as hum a single one of their songs.