The Beat Surrender

Gigs at the rather grand St Georges Hall in Bradford seem to be a bit like buses, I haven’t been to a gig for about five years there and then all of a sudden I find myself at my third in three weeks. It’s actually good to see the City of Bradford putting on more gigs by established bands and while Los Campesinos! aren’t massive they are one of the breakthrough acts of this year so far and it’s pleasing to see a healthy crowd in here by the time they come on.

That isn’t quite the case when local boys and girls Ult Cult take to the stage, the easiest way I can think to describe them is that they are similar to Los Campesinos! in some respects, they don’t though have the prescence, tightness of sound or quality of song just yet. It’s kind of S Club Juniors to the real S Club at the time!

They are a band though with some potential and as they are painfully young (meaning two blokes in their 30’s stand out a mile in the small crowd watching them), I can see them getting better and better. They don’t blow us away tonight, but we do enjoy them which is a good enough starting point for me.

Next up are Lovvers a band that are so rebellious and punk rock that they break all the rules ‘man’, especially it seems when it comes to the spelling of their name, these crazy guys probably don’t use proper words either such is their disdain for ‘the system’.

We can’t actually tell if they use proper words in their songs as the vocalist who looks a bit like Donny Tourette with his shock of blonde/white hair, screams the lyrics rather than singing them. It’s supposed to be punk I’m guessing, but it’s a poor mans punk and the teenage mooching the singer does in between songs is in stark contrast to his energetic jumps during the track. As far as I can tell he isn’t in his teens though so I would expect him to be able to carry himself around the stage better by his age.

Two songs is all we can stomach of this unholy mess so it’s light refreshments in the bar and a wait for the main act. When Los Campesinos! do emerge it isn’t quite to the normal reception a headline band would get, I’m used to seeing the slightest twitch of roadies foot towards the stage causing clapping and cheering as they mistake them for the band, instead the actual band come on stage, fiddle about with the instruments and sound a little, say hello and crash straight into the first song.

It’s all very strange and the atmosphere is a little odd in such a big venue, however it doesn’t detract from the bands performance. They are full of energy which is really channelled through Gareth, picking up lead vocals and glockenspiel he’s an engaging performer, albeit one who doesn’t always sound as confident talking onstage as he does singing.

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