| Artists reviewed: | - Words: Mydas, Palamino, Vinyl, The Grim Northern Social, Madrid, The Omegas, The Marble Index, New Rhodes, Raar, The Subways, i-(def)-i, Shellshock, Zenfo
- Pictures: The Marble Index, The Ragdolls
|
Mydas – Life Café, 6pm
From Scotland with love, Mydas deal in occasional dashes of excellence and some beautifully angelic harmonies in their dual vocal approach. Those moments of sweetness just about made up for the often average surroundings but they need an edge to their indie to succeed further.
Reviewer: Chris Long _______________________________________ Palamino – Life Café, 6.45pm
With their melodies tuned into pop and their tunes turned right up to epic, Palamino’s country twinges and rock harmonies were entertaining yet undemanding, and, like panning for gold, there was the sporadic shining nugget amongst the lumps of dull earth.
Reviewer: Chris Long _______________________________________
 | | The Ragdolls at 42nd Street |
Vinyl – One Central, 7.15pm
Chest rattling bass and simple punk sensibilities from the shores of Iceland, Vinyl mash in keyboards to give a slick finish to an aggressive rock heart. In introducing themselves as “Winyl”, they also showed the danger of naming your band something you can’t actually pronounce.
Reviewer: Chris Long _______________________________________ The Grim Northern Social – Life Café, 7.30pm
You have to take your hat off to any front man who throws himself around a stage like a cut-price rehash of Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart in front of an incredibly sparse audience, particularly when he can barely sing. The Grim Northern Social are average rock with great style.
Reviewer: Chris Long _______________________________________ Madrid - Walkabout, 7.30pm
Madrid’s cinematic washes of sound punctuated with programmed beats and bits of electronica had more than a few heads in the crowd nodding along. Admittedly some of the grooves had a strangely comforting and familiar feel to them but at times the songs, which often had little or no vocal input, meandered aimlessly and seemed self indulgent. Hardly the sort of sound that will set your world on fire, it's more likely to leave it quietly smouldering.
Reviewer: Michelle Adamson _______________________________________ The Omegas – Cellar Vie, 8pm
The Omegas are a band trying to mesh together their various 60s idols, but, with a bargain bin Jimi Hendrix on guitar (complete with a dreadful cheap velvet suit and white Cuban heels) and a caterwauling, cacophonic vocal, they are failing. Miserably.
Reviewer: Chris Long _______________________________________
 | | The Marble Index at Walkabout |
The Marble Index – Walkabout, 8.45pm
What more can you ask for from a live show than a front man that dashes through the crowd, starting up handclaps and climbing on bar furniture, before returning to the stage to deliver energetic rock and roll? Not much, actually. The Marble Index are a sparkling, true blood rock experience with a stream of Strokes-like excellence streaking through them.
Reviewer: Chris Long _______________________________________ New Rhodes - Tmesis, 9.15pm
New Rhodes have all the makings of a great band – a shuffle-dancing front man, a Hooky-esque bass player, and a frankly outstanding drummer. The energy they packed into the performance was great, and showed the band’s thirst to be heard. A storming rendition of recent single I Wish I Was You had every industry head in the building nodding along. Definitely ones to watch.
Reviewer: Alex Davies _______________________________________ Raar - Cellar Vie, 9.30pm
A band billed as “goat-trousered” are a must see and this fun Scottish foursome didn’t disappoint. Delighting the crowd with their hairy strides, these half-man, half-yeti rock merchants were hemmed in by the small dimensions of the venue. They deftly delivered some tasty niblets of classic dirty rock and struck stadium rock poses as they delivered their Queen/Motorhead influenced riffs. The drummer ostentatiously twirled his sticks and was victoriously carried aloft the guitarist’s shoulders at the finale, banging his head against his snare. It was a performance that deserved an audience of thousands not dozens.
Reviewer: Michelle Adamson _______________________________________ The Subways - Tmesis, 10pm
To be cynical for a second, The Subways could get signed purely on the fact that their female bass player is rather marketable. However, looking past this, the music isn’t half bad either. Their set consisted of punchy, energetic songs, preferring to play as many as possible in the allotted time than engaging with the crowd. The resulting sound was a hybrid of The Vines' riffs and Jet’s tom-tom banging. And whilst sitting through an entire album’s worth could get a little tiring, live they were a lot of fun.
Reviewer: Alex Davies _______________________________________ i-(def)-i - Cellar Vie, 10.15pm
Packing a huge wall of sound that could be heard three streets away, i-(def)-i yanked up the decibels to give us a high octane metal onslaught. Singer Chris leapt goat-like onto tables, the bar, in fact any high point in the venue and was at his best flipping schizophrenically from deep growls that gouged holes out of the wall to sweet tuneful musings.
Reviewer: Michelle Adamson _______________________________________ Shellshock - Cellar Vie, 11pm
This band should come with a health warning. Their relentless nuclear blast metal filtered through a drum and bass vibe and some rapid fire rapping is an unsettling combination and it immediately induced a violent mini mosh pit that quickly lead to one serious leg injury and a case of mild concussion. The band jerked and raged their way through a barrage of ferocious songs that hardly paused for breath. A passionate (and dangerous!) display of cathartic edgy music.
Reviewer: Michelle Adamson
_______________________________________ Zenfo - Jar Bar, Midnight
Claiming to be "Born to chill...able to kill", Manchester's homegrown teenybop rappers pulled off a charmed and intense performance. The Spice boys of the underground, Suspect, Ginger Jesus, Gavstar, Rascal and, err, Chris, exuded a badass attitude, refreshingly tinted with a tongue firmly in cheek. Flitting between Goldie Lookin' Chain, The Streets and Public Enemy, Zenfo have tightened up and undeniably left their indelible lyrical markmanship on the crowd.
Reviewer: Carol Hodge _______________________________________ More reviews will be added when they are available. If you went to one of these shows or saw something else, we'd love to hear from you. Add your comments and reviews below. | 
