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Always one to
checkout the hot new talent in our native North East we were given the
opportunity to checkout local band Apollo. I was only introduced to their
music via their debut album ‘This Is My Town’ just recently and was
suitably impressed.
The band tonight
were the first of three bands on the set, but my intension was just to
check out this particular band live and see if they were as impressive
live as they are on CD. I can tell you this the album doesn’t do
this band justice because live they are a different animal, a more
powerful dynamic five piece you'd be hard pushed to find anywhere else.
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The band
themselves are based around the brothers Lee and Neil Picton who are
vocals and guitars respectively. The pair along with Andy
Liscombe (guitar), Matt Sizer (bass) and Jack Wilkinson (drums) are
without a doubt the North’s answer to Crowded House with perhaps a
little U2 thrown into the mix for good luck.
Their short
but impressive set was taken from their said debut album and opened up
with the current single ‘This Is My Town’. A track that was
meant to be played loud |
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proud as the album version is a much to polished affair and doesn’t
really capture the real Apollo, which is the band's live sound. |
The set continued
with ‘21g’ with Lee really throwing out some quite soulful vocals on this
one. ‘Peaks And Troughs’ was next, this was a more mellow approach
by the band but with that same U2 style Edge guitar work giving the song a
great dynamic.
But the band are
really at their best when they bring the tempo up and this was greatly
apparent with ‘Last Time’, a real crowd pleaser for those who had arrived
to the venue early, although those who were still coming in were instantly
drawn to the stage to see who was playing.
‘(You Are Going)
Down With Me’ was one of the highlights of the set for me with Lee really
giving his all on this one, as this more melodic mellow refrain really
brought out the best in his vocals, but although this was a more mellower
track, Liscombe still threw out some fine Edge style licks to keep the
guitar lovers pleased.
The band
definitely have that arena sound as the set was nearly at a close they
still gave their all with one of my favourites off the album ‘Forget It’,
this one is the pure classic style U2.
This very
impressive set was rounded off with a little Bluesy/Funk smoked filled
jazz club feel of 'Lay Dormant’ which was the icing on the cake of a fine
set from a band destined for greater things. |
