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Tonight marks
the second of three visits to Trillians this week, to see the return one
of rocks greatest sons former Little Angels front-man Toby Jepson.
But first the formalities of the support
act Macurious (?) who give us a gentle intro Jepson and Co.
The presence of two full drum kits on
stage mean that the band were somewhat cramped on stage, but this doesn’t
seem to deter them as they opened up with ‘Comfort Zone’, a song which
optimises the whole Macurious (?) sound which is not dissimilar to REM in
parts.
The set continued with ‘The Ride’, a
song that is a little rockier sound than the opener. This band
seemed the wrong choice for me as openers for Jepson and Co., but they still
got a warm response from the audience.
The songs throughout the set were very
similar, with just a couple of highlights such as the mid tempo songs ‘US
Dream’ and ‘Spineless’.
The band finished off their set with the
rocker ‘Rising’ and the more gentle persuasion of ‘Phycobar’, two tracks
that I think perhaps should have been the opposite way round, as 'Rising' would
have perhaps been a better track to leave the stage with as it was a bit
more rockier and would lead well into Jepson’s set.
Now for the main event Toby Jepson who
told us from the off that tonight he and the band would be showcasing some
new material and trying out a few things on tonight’s set.
The band got off to a storming start
with ‘Happy Ever After’ with Toby in fine voice and the rest of the band
Roger Davies, Nick Dunne and Matt Eldridge all in top sparkling form.
The set continued with ‘I Want Love’ and
‘Equal’, both of which get a rousing response from the very appreciative
crowd.
Toby took time out between songs to muse
over of times gone by, remembering the hey days when he played with Little
Angels at our very own Newcastle Mayfair Ballroom, upon which Toby
remarked had now sadly been turned into a car park. A few more
recent happy memories including the support slot with Thunder at the City
Hall.
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The set continued with stirring
renditions of ‘Inside Out’ and one of Little Angels classic songs ‘Kicking
Up Dust’, which also gave the audience a chance to sing along.
Jepson laid down
his electric guitar in
favour of an acoustic one for ‘Don’t Pray For Me’, which then saw the rest of
the band rejoin Jepson for the final half of the song.
Then it was time
for and a quick plug before ‘Unwind’ off the Refreshed EP, which was great
to hear. With plenty of time on their hands they stormed through a quite
superb set with tracks both old and new, all of which went down well with
the crowd as the sang along to both. These included ‘Lucky’ ‘Out Of Sight Out
Of Mind’ and the title track of the Refresh EP ‘Refresh Yourself’.
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But it was when the band went into ‘Young
Gods’ that really set the crowd into spontaneous singing, a truly stirring moment
for both band and crowd. The set came to a close with ‘Breakdown’ before
the band left the stage for the obligatory return for encore, to really rock the house
with ‘Radical Your Lover’, a song which rounded off a superb show.
Great stuff, roll on the next one. |
