The Beat Surrender

I had mixed feelings as I approached this gig tonight, it was a Friday night which is a great night for a gig to fall on (no work tomorrow!) and I was really in the mood for a good upbeat gig having been drinking since leaving work at four. The downside was that I hate this venue with a passion and I’d seen Groove Armada once before and they had been brilliant. I know the last point should be a plus but sometimes it’s difficult for the second time to live up to the first.

Added to these concerns were the fact that again the band had failed to deliver a truly consistent, brilliant album with new long-player Soundboy Rock, as much as it had some great potential singles in it’s ranks, it also had a number of filler tracks that I just couldn’t see cutting it live if used.

So I half walked, half stumbled into the venue, headed for the over priced, always warm beer serving bar and looked towards the stage, it was clear from the roadies and crew on the stage that we’d missed support act Calvin Harris, no great shame in that as I’m still not 100% convinced by him (I guess time will tell on that one though), then met up with friends near the front (again it’s way too warm and the Uni still won’t pay out for decent air conditioning).

The duo amble on stage and immediately they are into the groove, the crowd are bouncing and they strike up the first beats of the night, they are joined on stage by a female singer, who in my ever so slightly inebriated state I mistake for a man, when challenged by my Mrs as to how I could mistake this I reply “well I thought it was a tribal chief in all that gear…I couldn’t see it was a woman”. As it happens she’s brilliant, belting out tracks with a great deal of versatility.

As the set wears on one thing is very much apparant, the new tracks are generally good that they have selected to play tonight and they do really come alive in the live arena, but it’s the old tracks that the crowd are here to see. Nothing gets a reaction quite like Superstylin’ and it’s no wonder. If one song could ever sum up Groove Armada it’s this, sassy, a real party track and still fresh sounding to this day.

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