 
This was my first visit to Mr Kyp's – despite
it not being far from
where I live. And initial impressions about the
venue were instantly
dashed upon walking inside. What seems to be an
old church or school
hall from outside, has been renovated inside into
a fairly decent venue.
The tall peaked ceiling thankfully lowered in
the name of acoustics, and
a perfectly sized room that meant that even if
you were standing at the
back by the bar, it still felt relatively intimate.
First up were John Brown's Body, a group who are
on the Easy Star record
label. This is going to be short and sweet, but
at the end of the day
they were fantastic. The lead vocalist, who ended
the set drenched from
head to toe in sweat, had one of the most amazing
voices I've ever
heard. The notes he could reach, were unbelievable.
I stood there in
awe, taking it all in, with absolutely no knowledge
of what was being
played. Absorbing my surroundings, the venue,
the great music, and the
band, amusing myself thinking how the bassist
looked like he should be
in some kind of Limp Bizkit-esque group. I have
a limited knowledge on
Reggae so I won't embarrass myself, but my friend
Larry was about six
foot away skanking like a nutter. Admittedly he's
quite get-up-and-go,
but they can't have been bad. My only personal
issue is that reggae
seems to go on and on, and John Brown's Body were
no exception – the
same bass riff plodding along for what felt like
about six minutes, only
to stop and do it all over again with a new one.
But that's just the way
reggae is, I can't hold that against them. They
were quite fantastic.
After a forty-five minute set, they left the stage
and we began to wait
for the Easy Stars, who came on stage to Radiohead's
“National Anthem.”
For those of you who aren't familiar with the
song (and it's epic-ness)
the song breaks down into a scrambled mess of
various instruments. And
at about this point in the song, Easy Stars all
started making general
noise from their instruments. Which I thought
was a nice touch. As the
song faded out and ended, they introduced themselves
and kicked off with
some of their original tracks. Most famous for
their cover albums of
Radiohead's /OK Computer/, Pink Floyd's /Dark
Side Of The Moon, /and The
Beatles /Sgt. Pepper's, /the Easy Stars have a
single EP of original
songs released last year. Opening with the title
track of that EP “Until
That Day,” it was clear we were in for a
treat. Having managed to catch
them at Glastonbury this year, I knew what to
expect – but as always,
seeing a group at their own show indoors is always
a whole different
experience. The bass was cranked right up, and
everyone was having a
good time. After sneaking in a cheeky unreleased
track, it was time to
plug the new album, /Sgt Peppers./ First up, one
of my personal
favourites, the upbeat /Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band;/ and the
generally older audience were singing along and
having a boogie. Easy
Stars appeal to all ages, and make reggae a more
accessible genre to
people routed in the rock and alternative genres.
/A Little Help From My
Friends/ followed, and /Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
/too. The Beatles
tracks were almost over once /Being For The Benefit
Of Mr. Kite/ and
/Lovely Rita/ had ended, not to the crowd's dismay.
As far as I'm aware,
/Radiodread/ and certainly /Dub Side Of The Moon/
are far more treasured
albums than /Easy Stars Lonely Hearts Dub Band/
although I guess that
could all change.
The Easy Stars are an upbeat bunch, with the expected
set up of guitar,
bass, keys and brass. Vocal leads are shared between
some of the band
members, two male and one female, bouncing around
the stage and rocking
from side to side, in that special way that reggae
makes you do. There's
something about it, that just makes you bob around,
and you can't escape it.
The change in albums began with the painfully
epic rendition of /Speak
To Me/Breathe (In The Air)/ and the mighty /Money/.
Arguably, in
general, the crowd's favourite tracks. We were
now beyond the 11 o clock
mark, I was waiting at any time for them to call
it a day. But alas, it
isn't over until the fat lady sings. And given
that there were none
present, it didn't look like it was going to end.
/When I'm Sixty-Four/
marked the final Beatles song of the night before
we travelled into
Radiohead territory with /Paranoid Android, Let
Down, and
Electioneering./ The set finished up with /Time/
and /Karma Police/
which went down to a crowd vote. And that was
that. No encore, but
remarkably they'd continued to play right through
until midnight –
possibly the latest I'd ever left a gig.
John Browns Body 4.5/5
Easy Star All Stars 5/5
Review By Thom |
