Wednesday 20 November 2019

Feeder, Rock City, Nottingham

Supported by Daniel Steer

I was looking forward to seeing Bryde tonight, who was supposed to be supporting, but Daniel Steer explains that he has been asked to stand in at short notice. So short notice it seems that he’s had to turn up without his band. So it’s just him with a guitar and a piano.

Steer has been around for a while. First as lead singer of The Quails then with These Reigning Days, who are now known simply as Reigning Days and I think are still going, just on a break while Daniel promotes his first solo album. His latest work is produced by Feeder guitarist Tommy Gleeson.


He doesn’t disappoint apart from not being Bryde obviously and apart from not having his band with him, which just makes me want to see his full band show.

The thing about seeing Feeder twice in twelve days is whether anything will be different. The band have a history of playing shorter sets at Rock City due to the earlier curfews at the Nottingham venue, hence my visit to Leeds earlier in the tour.

While Leeds did indeed get the longer set on their previous tour that isn’t the case tonight. Kick off is moved from the 8:45 start it has been at most of the dates to 8:00 tonight to cope with the venue’s club night. That still leaves a full two hours of playing time if the band make use of it and that they do.


They even add two songs to the set from what I saw at Leeds. There’s the return of ‘Universe of Life’ which I am largely ambivalent to, but I know that Grant Nicholas absolutely loves playing it, and slightly annoyed because they place it between ‘Come Back Around’ and ‘Insomnia’ which were such a breathtakingly double act in Leeds. Though as I’ve practically chained myself to the front barrier where I intend staying and not getting sucked in to the mosh this time, it doesn’t matter much to me personally what happens behind me.

Talking of the ‘mosh pit’, which can be a rare beast these days. There was a bit of a disagreement when some folk tried to get the mosh going early to ‘Fear of Flying’ amid heavy resistance from those wanting a more statuesque experience down the front. It caused the band to pause briefly to see what the fuss was about. Those resisting the mosh won that particular battle but not the war, which was over when the aforementioned ‘Come Back Around’ hit a little later causing a major realignment of the troops down the front. I do feel that the bands should set out their stall early and play songs in an order that gets the mosh going as soon as possible to save on these types of squabbles.


The other addition tonight was the return of the always excellent 'Yesterday Went Too Soon' which appeared as a wonderful back-to-back duo with the equally excellent 'Turn'. Hearing those two tracks played together made my night. Given the positive reception received by these two lower profile hits from the past it’s a little frustrating we don’t hear them more often.

The band now seem to have a settled five-piece line up which has enabled more songs to be learnt which will hopefully lead to even further diversity on future tours and the digging up of more forgotten gems.


They have a lot of back catalogue to plunder plus I'm sure Nicholas has plenty more new songs he's going to write too, so it’s good to see that 24 song 2 hour sets now seem to have landed and not before time. They seem to be preserving their stamina and his voice by hitting a nice rhythm of two nights on, one night off.

‘Comfort in Sound’ is one that has been reintroduced this tour apparently due to the influence of guitarist Tommy Gleeson, who is a relative newcomer to the Feeder live show but is now in his third year with the band. Tommy is a session musician extraordinaire also being a producer (see Daniel Steer above), and a songwriter as well as a regular performer. So he knows his stuff and he deserves a big shout out as I think he’s made a real difference to the Feeder sound live. I will just put it out there that he’s the best second guitarist they’ve ever had.


There’s still no ‘My Perfect Day’ though, which I suspect they’re saving for London. I really must get down there for a London date sometime, it usually seems to pay dividends. I’m still not over them playing the epic oldie ‘Shade’ down there on the Generation Freakshow tour and it’s not been seen since.


Overall they play a good strong set tonight pulling in much early material along with a ton of stuff from their new album ‘Tallulah’ including what has fast become my favourite 'Shapes and Sounds'. 

This does mean that several more recent songs that have been set regulars have gone but it is no bad thing to diversify a bit. Although with nothing played tonight from the three albums that span the period between 2005’s Pushing The Senses and 2016's 'All Bright Electric', Nicholas will have campaigns on his hands for three missing albums if he’s not careful rather than the just the one for regularly ignoring the ‘Silent Cry’ album from 2008 that he keeps saying he’s going to rectify... Who’d be lead singer of a band with such a big and impressive back catalogue?

Feeder Setlist Rock City, Nottingham, England 2019, Tallulah

Monday 18 November 2019

Blood Red Shoes, Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

Supported by Queen Kwong

Opening tonight are Queen Kwong from Los Angeles. The Queen herself is Carré Callaway, who has assembled the band around herself. She starts their set on her own, singing sweetly, beautifully purring like kitten that quickly metamorphoses into a tiger as the rest of the band arrive and pick up their instruments as does the Queen herself. Then amid much hair tossing and grinding away on her guitar, the set quickly becomes a homage to all that is raw, energetic and loaded with noise guitar. Sonic Youth, The Swans, shades of Iggy Pop, Nine Inch Nails perhaps... apparently she was discovered by Trent Reznor, you can tell. Very nice.


Can Blood Red Shoes get nosier than that? Of course the can.

Now here’s a thing. Me finally seeing a band that’s been near the top of my wish list for at least ten years and before they’ve even decided to split up. To be fair, everybody thought Blood Red Shoes had split up when they went on an extended hiatus in 2015. It was, with get relief, that they re-emerged with new material in 2017, a new album ‘Get Tragic’ at the start of 2019 and a stint supporting the Pixies across Europe.

The duo, consisting of guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steven Ansell, are known for their hugely energetic shows and the sound they can produce with just a solitary guitar and a drum kit.

The new album however sees them using other instruments as well, additional guitars, bass, synthesizer and drum pads. So they take to the stage tonight with reinforcements and open the night as a foursome while Ansell tells us of his love for Glühwein, which he has in a little plastic cup. Carter’s choice is much classier, carrying her red wine in a proper stemmed glass.

They open with a trio of newer tracks ‘Elijah’, ‘God Complex’ and ‘Mexican Dress’ mainly from the new album but not in the case of ‘God Complex’ which was a one off release, something they are inclined to doing. Two of their set regulars, Black Distractions and Red River, don’t come from albums either but from 2013’s Water EP.

Then the additional musicians are stood down as the twosome launch into their 'old' stuff. Oddly this actually ratchets up the volume levels despite there now being less musicians on the stage.


Typically you’ll see a band’s drummer stuck at the back of the stage but not so here, Ansell has his drum kit positioned right at the front and it is he who does most of the interaction with the crowd. Unfortunately as I am on Carter's side of the stage, one of his symbols prevents me getting a good photography angle on him. Carter meanwhile says very little throughout.
 

After nine ‘oldies’, including such classics as ‘Don’t Ask’ and ‘Light It Up’ which certainly lit the fire in the mosh pit, the foursome are required again for their second shift but seem to have gone AWOL. Once they are tracked down, together they perform four more tracks from ‘Get Tragic’ including closing with a rambunctious ‘Bangsar’.


Despite their disappearing act, the new recruits are allowed to join in the encore as the band return to play us out with the belter that is 2007’s ‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’.

Blood Red Shoes Setlist Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, England 2019

Friday 8 November 2019

Feeder, Beckett University, Leeds

So yet another Feeder gig. I must be an addict.

After a ‘Best Of’ Tour last year, the band are on the road to promote their new album Tallulah of which we get to hear plenty tonight. Grant Nicholas, Taka Hirose and the band play no less than nine tracks of the twelve tracks that are on the new record ranging from typical up tempo Feeder fare such Youth, Shapes and Sounds, and Fear of Flying through the monster that is Kyoto to lighter numbers such as Kite and Blue Sky Blue, which opens the encore.


With such a wealth of new material this might have left little room for crowd pleasing numbers but the band, who broke new ground with the longer sets for their ‘Best Of’ Tour play for almost as long tonight, totting up 22 tracks and seem to have finally mastered the fact that if they hit the stage a little earlier they can fit more in.



There’s even time for a heavy rock jam session between Nicholas, clearly the frustrated band member that Black Sabbath never had, and drummer Geoff Holroyde while the Leeds crowd egg them on with the obligatory cries of ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire’.


Highlights for any seasoned addict are when you get something a little different and apart from the many cracking songs that are part of the new album this comes in the shape of a first play since 2008 of Comfort in Sound but this is then out-highlighted when they end the main set with three in a row from 2001’s Echo Park, the first of which is the wonderful 'Turn' which is played far too rarely.


Although being down the front in the mosh for a ferocious double header of ‘Come Back Around’ and ‘Insomnia’ pushes those moments close.

See you again in Nottingham guys.

Feeder Setlist Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, England 2019, Tallulah