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Alec Empire (Camden)
The last time former Atari Teenage Riot man Alec Empire brought his digital hardcore roadshow to the UK was in 2005, and a lot’s changed since. He’s still got sampler / keyboard / general bleepy noise-maker Nic Endo in tow, along with his trademark anti-authority bile, but that’s about all that remains of the old Empire live show with new band, The Hellish Vortex.
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Cut Copy (Brighton)
Two words: Nathan and Barley. Gig going, in Brighton particularly, hasn’t been the same since Chris Morris’ hilarious TV send-up of everything at the more fashionable end of ‘alternative’ culture mercilessly lampooned the mullet-haired, stupid-hatted buffoons polluting the country’s nightlife.
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Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (Brighton)
Despite her beautiful lilting vocals, support act Emmy The Great's shy demeanour failed to gain the crowd's full attention and one punter even harshly edited the stage times' poster to rename her Emmy The "Quite Dull". Maybe she didn't have the right haircut.
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Yoav (Brighton)
There is no mistaking Yoav when he takes to the stage. His bare feet and their alarmingly dextrous relationship with the concise array of effects pedals just in front of him, and his approach to the acoustic guitar, as much percussive as tonal instrument, ensures that we can’t really be watching anyone else in this small but well-populated function room above a pub in Brighton.
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Interpol (London)
New York City’s Interpol are the rarest of things - a band that stands to lose, rather than gain, impact from their live performance. You could almost say that their carefully structured brand of propulsive post-punk has already found its spiritual home on the bass-boosted bedroom stereos of the introspective.
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Babyshambles & Dizzee Rascal (Brighton)
Babyshambles have indeed tightened up and smoothed out all the spluttering and splayed rough edges that made them the ramshackle catastrophe of the past. However, it's slightly disappointing that the rock n'roll rollercoaster has caved in to the commercial pressures of "putting on a good show".
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Bonobo (Brighton)
One of Brighton's favourite down tempo pioneer's came home Friday night as Simon Green and friends chilled and distilled the tranquil Concorde club scene. Green, or his better known project Bonobo, treated the crowd to a set list heavily borrowing from both 'Dial "M" for Monkey' and his successful 2006 release 'Days to Come'.
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Chromeo (Brighton)
Canadian Electrofunk came, saw and conquered a particularly welcoming Brighton crowd on this pleasantly mild autumnal night. Not only was the venue (Digital and its monstrous new sound system) aptly suited to such revolutionary activity, but the Brighton crowd welcomed the Jewish and Palestinian pair without the need to separate the city into opposing warring factions.
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Ash (Glasgow)
In a venue reminiscent of Vegas circa 1983 and with an impressively inventive use of dead woodland gracing the stage, Ash grace the stage, still wearing that slightly empty look of a three-piece who have lost one of their members, the much-missed Charlotte Hatherley.
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The Departure (Edinburgh)
Playing to an audience not much bigger than your band and crew in a venue the size of a large living room is an intimidating prospect. What does one do in these circumstances? Well, if you’re The Departure’s front man David Jones, it seems getting a bit pissed and being a cocky bastard is the way to go, which may have worked had he not dropped his mic mid-song.
