Thursday 6th November: A weekend of standby for me, together with location and general busy-ness for the others meant that it was going to be impossible for all of us to meet up this week. The others were going out on Friday night at least and you can see a review of their trip to the Duchess by clicking the link on my Blog roll. Not wanting to miss out on live music for another weekend I took a late decision to make my own way to the Duchess to see a couple of bands that I already knew I liked.
The evening didn't start well, however, when Dead Rebellion took to the stage. Rock-style drumming with some sort of small keyboard-type thingy and hip-hop lyrics - not my cup of tea at all, to be honest. I lost interest very early in the first song when I realised that the lyrics were shouted, repetitive and completely unintelligible. The latter may not have been the band's fault - the sound (especially the bass) was up so loud that not only were my clothes vibrating but, I suspect, so was my wardrobe back home. Frankly, the thirty minute set felt a lot longer but that was probably just my prejudice against this genre of music.
Second on stage were The Runaway Sons. This is the third time I've seen them and they seem to get better every time. This time they only had a thirty minute set and, unlike Dead Rebellion, that wasn't long enough. Most of the set was familiar songs although, towards the end, I thought they played one or two new ones (or, at least, new to me). As usual, the playing was excellent - these guys have a really good stage presence - and this time they seemed to be a bit more comfortable talking to the audience between songs. Most noticeable, however, was the fact that Jim Gipson has had his hair cut and is no longer a Suzi Quatro look-a-like.
Finally, tonight's "head"-line act - the appropriately named The Hair. Last time we saw these guys, they were supporting Hope&Social at Fibbers. Since, then, they have been propelled to the big time by supporting the Kaiser Chiefs on their recent tour. Again, a lot of their infectious pop/rock/alternative tunes were familiar from the last time but, being a longer set, they also played new ones and there wasn't a duff song amongst them. These guys seem to really enjoy performing and are definitely developing their own style. By this time I had met up with another colleague and he admitted that, while he didn't know what to expect from this band, he really enjoyed them. Unfortunately, their forty-five minute set (including two song encore) was over much too soon, ending with each member of the band (except the drummer) in turn eschewing his own instrument in favour of bashing a cymbal. A good end to a really good set. Hopefully they'll be back soon.
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