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What a busy
month for gigs this month has been so far. This is my second gig in
three nights and I can tell you all these late nights are just starting to
take their toll on my weary bones! It needs a great gig to get me
back into the whole gig groove and tonight was, what was on paper at
least, going to be one of those nights.
With three very different bands on the
bill I was hoping for a bigger crowd than had actually turned up for
tonight’s gig. Many of the Glitterati dates had already been
nearly sold out except for tonight’s show. Either the lack of
publicity by the venue, as I saw no posters advertising the show in or
around the venue itself, but plenty for other up coming shows, or perhaps
the lack of audience members may have also been due to fact the majority
of the rest of the tour the venues were advertising the shows as all ages
events, which tonight was not. Tonight was over 18's only.
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But this aside the people who did
turn up were given the chance to witness three very different bands
with three totally different sounds.
First up were local band El Bistro, a
band that I had caught just two days earlier on another support slot.
The band didn’t push all the right buttons for me two nights before so
I wasn’t expecting too much tonight. The band tonight seemed to
be more professional tonight, forgiving the few problems when bass
player broke a string and had to borrow the bass of Jamie Snell from
the Glitterati to continue their set.
The band delivered a lively set
although I have to admit not really my cup of tea. The band did
have a couple of songs that had promise though, ’One In A Million’ and
'Skinny Boy' both showed the band had some ammunition in their set,
and if they went more for that sort of sound overall, then I could be
persuaded to check them out again. |
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Next up were My 21 Grams who were a
totally different kind of band, who obviously had worked both on their
image and sound.
The band delivered a much heavier
sound than that of El Bistro, with newest member frontman Alex, I feel
is the reason behind this heavy sound, as his vocals lend themselves
so much to that genre.
With stand out tracks of the short
but effective set being the up tempo ‘Alkaline’, the bands last
single, “Little Piece of Me’, and the excellent ‘Blackout’. This
band definitely have what it takes to go to the next level and are a
band who I will definitely be looking out for in the future.
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Now for the main event, The Glitterati
who having just returned from a successful stint in the US return to these
shores to deliver their own brand of modern glam infested rock n' roll.
As the usual Glitter Band intro fades
away it's straight down to business with ‘Betterman’ from the band now
synonymous debut album. Although the venue was far from full, those
who were there showed the band that despite rumours to the contrary,
Newcastle really does love this band.
The set continued it blazing pace as the
band went straight into ‘You Got Nothing On Me’, after which vocalist Paul
Gautrey announced that all but the Newcastle shows had sold out, but again
I think that it was mainly due to the other venues adopting an all ages
policy.
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However despite the low numbers the
band continued as if they were appearing in front of thousand, as the
set went on with ‘Keeping Me Down’, the first of the bands new
material which met with approval from the crowd.
Then it was back to the debut album
for a couple of crowd favourites ‘Back In Power’ and ‘Here Comes A
Close Up’. Then quick as a flash is more new stuff this time the
excellent ‘Cant Get Enough Of You’. If this is a sample of the
new album then I can't wait for its impending release, this song
rocked big time.
After the rampaging ‘Do You Love
Yourself’ it was time for the first outing for another new song this
time the bluesy effort ‘Too Many Girls’. The new song that
really impressed me the most though was the fast rocker ‘I Want To
Feel Like I’ve Been Used By You’. Before the band left the stage
it was time to really rip things up a little with ‘Heartbreaker’. |
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After a short interlude the band returned
to really show us what they are capable of with the outstanding ‘Nobody
Fucks Me Up Like You’, which rounded off another great set by the band who
still rocked despite the lack of a real crowd. Hopefully things will
be totally different the next time I see the band which will be when they
support Swedish glamsters Gemini 5 later this year. |
