smiles in an east end boozer, kids holding hands with luminous bracelets and chicks stamped on their hands. a grinning girl running around handing out sweets whilst wearing an Easter bonnet. no, its not Oasis at wembley but a twee as fuck all dayer.
now, i have to own up and say i cant be twee 'as fuck' as i didn't see the whole all dayer through. i was in London primarily to assist my wonderful girl friend in moving house. after a whole load of shifting and cleaning, she took me for a wonderful meal, after which i made her practically inhale a rather moreish Merlot so we could attend the gig post haste. shes an understanding lass that one.
we arrived just as veronica falls were ending their set. i cant tell you an awful lot about them to be honest, but they sounded wonderful whilst waiting to be served at the bar.
after a much slower intake of drink, we were in plenty time to catch the fantastic Bobby McGees. their rent-a-ghost via pirates of penzance performance art racket was a real hug of a set. their skewered sea shanties sounding perfect(despite missing their bassist who mysteriously 'couldn't make it')sounding heartingly fun in the E3 mid-evening. we were on their side when they were handing out luminous wristbands and sweets. we were friends by the time they were singing about gouging eyes and lonely twee romances. by the time they started to play the musical saw they had our hearts.
embarrassingly, my favourite bit of the set was when a young indie boy was absent mindedly stroking a balloon, lost in the reverie of 'please don't dump me', accidentaly burst it right in front of his face. the poor lad shot 8ft in the air and quite possibly soiled his brown corduroy trousers.
next up were slow club, who produced a pleasing boy-girl racket and showed off material from their forthcoming new album. judging by he sleeve(we should never judge by a cover of course),the record company are trying to sell them as a twee-er ting-tings. i hope this is not the case. their fringey,fey indiepop deserves to stand up on its own merit.
just as the northern banter of a distracted looking rebecca began to grate slightly, they charmed us all by going unplugged inches from the audience to perform a new b-side. great stuff.
"its hot but I'm not taking off my cardigan"amelia fletcher informs halfway through a sweaty tender trap set."this is twee as fuck after all" indeed it is.
with elizabeth darling joining the tender trap fold, they switch effortlessly between shimmery beat-pop with honey puff chorus's to to b-movie black quiffed monster bobby riffs. the sound was heavy but shandied though by the girl pop of amelia and elizabeth. by the time 'oh katrina' is
played, were in dizzy dancing heaven.
headlining over the absent 'secret' Comet Gain('ill' apparently)Days won over the rapidly diminishing crowd( it started pissing down and the chippy was shutting)crowd.
their smiths go postcard sigh pop jangle and melt away vocals were a perfect ending to a day humping boxes of pretty shoes.
"there's nothing more aesthetically correct in pop than a nice row of boys with guitars" opined my girlfriend. i nodded, noting to nick her quote. Days sent everyone who didn't stay for the northern soul(not THAT twee then)DJ'ing home with a happy soul and a head full of daydreams. perfect.
heres some great pictures by Contrave from the anorak board. thanks chris!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/manc_ill_k ... 179286235/
Thanks for the review Shaun, glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteRory (Twee As Fuck)