 Tonight was my second night of a triple whammy
of gigs at the Academy in Bristol in a week and
a good 30minutes before the doors were due to
open their were queues going right up the hill
of the Academy leading back up to the car park
but as soon as the doors opened at 7pm the queues
quickly filtered through.
The crow tonight was mainly young teenage girls
with a few older people cropping up the bar at
the back of the venue, either way it was sold
out and everyone was here just for Ellie Goulding.
The first act up tonight was an male two piece
called Bright Light Bright Light and they reminded
me of a younger and less camp Pet Shop Boys, they
started off playing to an half empty room and
by the time they finished the room was packed
out however the crowd appeared to be extremely
stale during the whole set.
 The music that Bright Light Bright Light play
is quite catchy synth driven pop music but for
some reason it really didn’t make the cut
live tonight and sounded more like the music you
would have in the background at your home whilst
having a relaxing afternoon off, the highlight
of the set was ‘Love Part II’ as both
band members really got into it with Chris smashing
the hell out of his electronic drum set and Andy
jumping off his chair whilst playing the keyboard
and singing along.
The next artist up was the main support act Sunday
Girl which is 21 year old Jade Williams band and
the first thing that I noticed was just how well
dressed and perfectly looking the whole band was
with everyone dressed in really smart black clothes.
Sunday Girl played a 30minute set which consisted
of 7 songs which ranged from ’24 Hours’,
‘Four Floors, ‘Human Love’,
‘Brixton’, ‘All The Songs’,
and also a fantastic cover of Laura Branigan’s
‘Self Control’ and then the closing
track and brand new single ‘Stop Hey’
which went down a treat with the Bristol Crowd.
 During the set Sunday Girl gave out a couple
of free t-shirts to the crowd and also took pictures
of the crowd to post on her Facebook page which
seems to be a trademark thing which she does at
every gig which obviously gives the crowd something
to look forward to when they get home.
Jade did come across very shy when she interacted
with the crowd tonight but I do seriously believe
that this time next year Sunday Girl will be a
household name on the way to being as successful
as Ellie Goulding is now, a bit more touring will
cure the nerves and the release of their debut
album will boost the profile.
Ellie Gouldings backing band took to the stage
dead on 9.30pm to screams from the fans and seconds
later Ellie herself took to the stage situated
at the back of the stage dressed in a My Chemical
Romance style Black Parade drummer jacket banging
the hell out of some beefy sounding drums to the
complete pleasure of the fans.
 As soon as the drum introduction finished Ellie
took the mic at the front of the stage and got
stuck straight in with ‘Under The Sheets’,
her vocals were spot on and the energy and atmosphere
from the stage show and backing band was fantastic
and everything sounding just that little bit better
live than it does on her album.
During the middle of the set Ellie and her backing
band left the stage as the crowd were shown a
brief film on the big screen about Ellie, moments
later Ellie came back on stage by herself to thank
the fans and play a couple of acoustic tracks
which consisted of ‘The End’ and ‘Sweet
Disposition’ which went down so well with
the crowd.
In between songs there were many chants of “we
love you Ellie” from both the males and
females in the crowd which shown just how much
the crowd tonight appreciates Ellie and her music,
the set consisted of most of her debut album ‘Lights’
and the biggest highlights were the drumming introduction,
‘Guns And Horses’ and the fantastic
finisher ‘Starry Eyed’ which gave
the strong 1,600 crowd chance to sing-a-long for
one last time.
Overall Ellie Goulding has come along a long
way since she released her debut album ‘Lights’
back in March she has a fantastic backing band,
has build up a really good stage show and has
gained the confidence of an artist who has been
playing music all their lives which technically
is the case with Ellie so far, I really can’t
to see what Ellie does next as she currently has
the UK in the palm of her hands.
Bright Light Bright Light – 3/5
Sunday Girl – 4/5
Ellie Goulding – 5/5
Review By Trigger |
