First gig of the new year, part of DF Concerts’ attempts to blow the January cobwebs away with a series of four-act shows mainly featuring “emerging” and “unsigned” artists – often just the combination of the bands and their friends/parents etc is enough to render the venue fairly busy so it washes its face financially and at around £12 a ticket is pretty good value for money for the punter looking to support and discover new music.
Lecki Lecki were on first – comprising duo Elo on vocals and Lewis on guitar, joined by bass and drums for this live date. Together they played an immersive set of guitar-based indie with a fair dose of funk, particularly from the very groovy at times guitar playing. Songs like ‘Tears Like Honey’ were strong and a fine cover of ‘Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)’ gave the audience something familiar to sing along to and an indication of the band’s influences. Current (or imminent) release ‘Grow Your Girlfriend’ was the rather sarcastic sign-off track.
Next up was Allan Purvis, who sang and played live guitar to a backing track. Although youthful in looks he has been creating music for a few years and referred to rewriting five year old song ‘The Runaways’ because he didn’t like it. The updated version had a good hint of Springsteen while other tracks channelled the yearning spirit of Paulo Nutini. Some decent guitar playing also helped although a live band would give him some further oomph and combined with his obvious charisma onstage and decent voice just might propel him into Sam Fender territory. Last track ‘Sweet Talking’ was also strong and there’s some good songs there.
Third act of the evening was Becki Rutherford, who admitted she hadn’t done a lot of music for a wee bit but came across very well on the night. She was joined by Alex on bass, Ryan on drums and James on guitar. More R&B influence that the first couple of acts, she could certainly sing and blasted through a few numbers including last number ‘Don’t Want You Around’. The closest musical comparison BM could make to BR at the time was Blondie at their poppiest – which most acts would probably take…?
The headliners Olivia (vocals) and Cammy (guitar/keyboards) were joined tonight by Lewis (bass), Lewis (keys) and Martin (drums, if BM has got this the wrong way around then apologies!). Although looking a bit nervous while the mikes were being tested Olivia soon got into her stride vocally and the band gave her superb backing, very tight indeed. BM thinks it is fair to say that the act and the music is still developing but in a very positive way – poppy, bluesy but with some added secret ingredient which BM can’t quite put a finger on…
Tracks like ‘Self Control’ are quite dark but they can also do funky and Olivia’s voice is versatile enough to move between different tempos with ease – is there maybe a hint of Harriet Wheeler’s voice at times? Recent single ‘It’s Easy’ was another highlight tonight and it looks as if this could be a good year for Majesty Palm. A great end to a varied and great night…