puresavage's posterous http://puresavage.posterous.com Most recent posts at puresavage's posterous posterous.com Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:16:00 -0700 The Vaccines - Speakeasy Bar, Belfast 26/03/2011 http://puresavage.posterous.com/the-vaccines-speakeasy-bar-belfast-26032011 http://puresavage.posterous.com/the-vaccines-speakeasy-bar-belfast-26032011

The-vaccines-006
It's 8.20 pm on saturday night, I've only just realised I'm running late, as my friend has just informed me that he seen on The Vaccines Twitter, that they are on stage at 9pm (is it just me or is that too early for a headliner?).  Anyway I've just got through the door and am pleasantly surprised to discover that John D'Arcy and the Great Bunch of Lads are the support act.  Although its early, the place is close to full capacity and "Superfood" is going down a treat, clearly there are a good few GBOL fans in attendance.  Unfortunately after this John announces "this is our last song" and belts out "Jenny's taking off her 14 rings, she's got her eye on more important things" the opening lines of their most famous track "Poptart",  again going down well! If this is the reaction the support act are getting, roll on The Vaccines!

Its been a few months since I've seen the GBOL perform live, and I'm really impressed how much they have improved and how tight they have become in such a short space of time, just wish i had been down earlier to see their full set!

To the bar!!!

So i'm sipping on my pint having a wee look around the place and trying to take in the atmosphere, and it dawns on me, this is a really strange mix of a crowd!  it ranged from your generic teenage scenester to the 50 something year old Buzzcocks/SLF fans, to the extremely drunk father and son who were just lapping up the beer and the atmosphere.

Almost exactly 9 o'clock on the button, The Vaccines take to the stage. (Twitter never lies!!! haha)  Without any messing around they get straight down to it, no introductions, no banter, just music.  Now to be perfectly honest this gig was a bit of a slow starter, with the first couple of tunes drifting by without really leaving a lasting impression on anyone, except the 20 or so die hards at the front.  It wasn't until they played "Post Break-Up Sex" that anyone else really started to stand up and take notice, from here on in the vast majority of the audience were singing along and seemed to be more "up for it".  My attention once again drawn to the father and son, both singing their hearts out,  and was quite amuzed by the fact they are singing the lyric "what do you expect from post break-up sex" to each other, haha.  

A couple of songs later The Vaccines break into, "If You Wanna", this gets the best response so far and sparked the audience into mass hand clapping, with frontman Justin Young pretending to pick off members of the audience with his guitar as if it was a gun!  Following this they played another crowd pleaser "Blow It Up", again with the hand clapping and sing alongs "blow, blow, blow, blow it up", and I begin to realise why there are older punks in the crowd, as these tunes really do resemble those of The Buzzcocks etc. circa 1979.

This is the point where the gig changed entirely for me, as my friend drew my attention to something at the right hand side of the stage, "look at the hack of the bassist"!  For the rest of the gig, the vast majority of my attention was focused on this guy!  Eyes glazed over, looking like a lost puppy and from my own experiences, that we'll not get into now ha!, had the look of someone who was "whiteying" and trying his best not to be sick haha!!!  Not very often you can say this, but for me the bassist stole the show, and he didn't even mean to do it, priceless! 

The highlight of the gig was without a doubt "Wreckin' Bar" but to be fair, this was to be expected, such a great tune, pity it's so short, at just under one and a half minutes long, it's over before you know it.  

The Vaccines didn't go to the bother of doing an encore, Young just said "this is the point where we pretend to leave the stage and get you to cheer us back on" and played another tune!  They finished off their set with Norgaard with Young getting in amongst the die hards at the front and getting his shirt ripped off in the process!

So, all in all a very good gig, I'll definitely be getting my ticket when they come back to grace a Belfast stage again and really hope it's sooner rather than later!  

Highlights:- The drunken father and son singing their hearts out, and the Pete Doherty-esque Bassist, we salute you!

Lowlights:- Headliners on at 9pm, whats that all about?

Review:- Decky Savage

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Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:22:00 -0800 FOY VANCE plus AARON SHANLEY (BELFAST NASHVILLE FESTIVAL) The Empire - 24th Feb 2011 http://puresavage.posterous.com/foy-vance-plus-aaron-shanley-belfast-nashvill http://puresavage.posterous.com/foy-vance-plus-aaron-shanley-belfast-nashvill

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21513357@N05/5492782493/

The night kicked off with Aaron Shanley playing to an already fairly busy Belfast Empire, getting even busier, to full compacity by the end of his set.  Now despite a few technical difficulties at the start, his set seemed to go down rather well, and to be perfectly honest was the sort of crowd that Aaron should be gearing his music towards, as I have seen him in the past open in the Empire at nights such as "Gifted" where he has struggled to hold the attention of the audience.  This is no fault of his own and not for lack of effort, its just the way it is when acoustic music is pitted against more energetic full band acts.

Anyway back to tonights gig.  Aaron (accompanied on stage by Allie Bradley) delivered a really strong yet short set.  The stand out tracks for me being "Find Me" and especially "Forget About Me" as by this stage he had the entire audience in silence with their full attention directed at the stage.

Aaron showed tonight that he truely is a product of Northern Ireland that we should be extremely proud of and I hope I'm not the only one expecting big things from this "Lisburn Lad" in the near future.

After a very short interval the man we all came to see, Foy Vance, took to the stage.  He opened with a quirky and rather unusual track with a mixture of sounds from the loop station, what sounded like backing tracks (I may be wrong) and playing the acoustic guitar with a bow, which did give a very interesting "big" sound, although I did get a little bored after a while as it did drag on a bit. 

Now it was a few songs in before Foy started to really get down to business and it was only then that the mood started to pick up in the room, by doing what he does best, and thats getting the audience to participate.  He had just started to get the crowd going when he turned asked them "how's your ooh's and aah's?" and broke into "Shed A Little Light" one of his more famous tunes, with the entire Empire Music Hall singing "backing vocals" and hand clapping, and really was great banter, there wasn't a person I could see in the house not enjoying the gig by this stage.  This was the same for "Make It Rain" audience participation from start to finish and again the whole room was buzzing.

Foy then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and began to sing a song he wrote in the hotel before the show, which I have to say I preferred to some of his other newer material as he played it on acoustic without the use of his Loop Station, which I feel he used a bit unnessessarily in a few tracks.

The mood had began to drop again by this stage, and clearly the drink had started to hit some members of the audience as the odd heckle came from near the back of the room, which led to Foy singing "move on baby 'cause you're a dick" which caused the crowd to erupt into laughter, which I must say is probably the best comeback to a heckle I've ever witnessed at a gig!


Now he had the full attention of the room again, there was no better time for him to utter the words "I wrote this one about sausages" again the audience erupts into laughter, due to this being in reference to "Homebird" being used on the Denny TV advert.  He then sang "The orange was the size of a sausage to me" again the crowd erupts.  Then he starts again "The orange was the size of a watermelon to me" now I've seen youtube videos of this before and have to say it looks incredible in the videos, but this didn't prepare me for how much of an amazing experience it actually is to be part of it. No exaggeration, every single member of the audience, myself included, sang "Homebird" word for word from start to finish, the hairs are standing on my neck just thinking about it!!!  No prizes for guessing that this was the highlight of the night, and possibly the best moments of any gig I've ever attended.

No sooner had we got our breath back, Foy announces his last song of the evening and breaks into "Indiscriminate Act of Kindness" once again the vast majority of The Empire sang every single word, and those who didn't, did when when it came round to the chorus.

Time for the encore!

Foy comes back to the stage with his acoustic guitar and held his glass in the air and toasted The Empire audience with a limerick, "There are long ships, and there are tall ships, and there are ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, and may they always be", and gets a great response from the crowd.

The encore was just one song long, and was a beautiful tune called "Guiding Light" again with the audience participating singing the "backing vocals" and chorus "when I need to get home, you're my guiding light, you're my guiding light". One word, Fantastic!!!

All in all, a great nights entertainment, my only criticism of Foy Vance would be that I would have preferred to see him perform stripped without the Loop Station etc, as it took away from his set at times.  Other notable events were the the assholes getting in a fight at the back of the room towards the end of the set, and the very obnoxious girl behind us who hushed us to the point that we moved, told you you'd get a mention!!!  Despite this, I don't think anyone left The Empire dissapointed!!!

Review: Hugh G. Rection

Photos: Clair McAllister  

 

 

 

 

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Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:20:00 -0800 PURE SAVAGE's Top 10 tracks released in 2010 by Northern Ireland Artists http://puresavage.posterous.com/pure-savages-top-10-tracks-realeased-in-2010 http://puresavage.posterous.com/pure-savages-top-10-tracks-realeased-in-2010

Top10
The boys at PURE SAVAGE decided to compile their Top 10 tracks released by Northern Ireland artists in 2010 and here they are below:-

Decky Savage's Top 10

1.Cashier No.9 - Goldstar
2.Lowly Knights - This Other Boy
3.Seven Summits - Burning Heart
4.Girls Names - Don't Let Me In
5.Aaron Shanley (Featuring Cara Cown) - I Think I Love You
6.More Than Conquerors - Go On, Go On, Get Out
7.A Plastic Rose - Kids Don't Behave Like This
8.Rams' Pocket Radio - Dogs Run In Packs
9.Master & Dog - Long May You Reign
10.Pretty Child Backfire - I Wish I Knew You Better

Aaron Rossi's Top 10

1.Rams Pocket Radio - Dogs Run In Packs
2.Aaron Shanley - Go Easy
3.Dead Presidents - Falling In Love Again
4.Clown Parlour - Monday
5.Phoenix Fire - Fairytale Of New York
6.Allie Bradley - Sincerity
7.More Than Conquerors - Go On, Go On, Get Out
8.Master & Dog - Long May You Reign
9.Pat Dam Smyth - Riches To Rags
10.Seven Summits - Burning Heart

Pete O'Hare's Top 10

1.Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk
2.ASIWYFA - S Is For Salamander
3.More Than Conquerors - Home Is A Red Dress
4.The Lowly Knights - Burning Powder
5.Seven Summits - Burning Heart
6.Mojo Fury - The Mann
7.Lafaro- Great Conversations Remembered No. 36 – Jeff Hinton
8.Cashier No. 9 - Goldstar
9.Girls Names - Oh Girl
10.The Rupture Dogs - Today And Tonight

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Sat, 11 Dec 2010 08:05:00 -0800 Animal Disco - ED ZEALOUS plus (General Fiasco DJ set) 10/12/2010 http://puresavage.posterous.com/animal-disco-ed-zealous-plus-general-fiasco-d http://puresavage.posterous.com/animal-disco-ed-zealous-plus-general-fiasco-d

Animal_disco
For the past few months I've been listening to a few local music connoisseurs saying "Ed Zealous aren't as good as they used to be" in regard to that fact that they dropped a guitarist, going for a more electronic sound with much more emphasis on keys than there ever was before etc., and have even had people go so far as to complain about their new more clean cut image (you know who you are!!! ha).  Now being an EZ fan for this past few years I have to say I did agree with some of their points and that there was just something missing compared to the EZ we once knew. Until tonight that is! 

The four piece came on stage at Midnight all guns blazing, performing to jam packed Auntie Annies Attic, with the front row almost being a who's who of the local music scene.  They opened with a fairly new tune, so new in fact it hasn't even got a title as yet, but was one of the tracks that really stood out for me with its powerful catchy chorus "theres a beat on the street...." and am certain it will be a hit in 2011.  From that they stormed into the most famous piece of their material since going down to a four piece "Talk With Your Hands" and this was obviously one of the most popular tunes with the by this stage fairly merry audience as it sparked a bit of dancing and could see a few die hards singing along. 

Their performance was absolutely flawless and as if this alone wasn't sufficient to squash any murmours from the cool kids that "they don't have it any more", they fired out a reworked version of their classic track "Mario" which had everyone who has been following EZ for a while (myself included) brimming with excitement and feelings of nostalgia, which had us singing along word for word "I said hey, I'll just be right back, in a second, with the money...." etc.  Something missing? I think they just found it!!!

I didn't think they would be able to top this, but yet again I was wrong, their last tune was one of the bands new demo's "Thanks A Million" a tune so brilliant and catchy, I've been wanting to "thank the academy" ever since I heard it haha.

After a set like that, I think its fair to say that Ed Zealous are once again complete, and in my opinion quite possibly the best band in the country!!!

Following the EZ set we were treated to a DJ set from General Fiasco with some cracking Indie anthems which generated plenty of dancing and the odd singalong. To top it all off the bar were selling Black Russian's for £2.50 and I left Auntie Annies thinking Animal Disco is quite possibly the best Club Night in Belfast.

Review by Hugh G. Rection

 

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