“Unexpected cold weather and snow cause untold mayhem and abject chaos across the entirety of the UK. Again. Roads blocked, airports closed, gig attendance at all time low.” Sigh, what a shame.
So I find myself rubbing my thighs together for warmth with a whole 35 other little human ice pops in The Arches last Saturday as The Concretes take the stage.
“This is our favourite city in the UK to play” states heavy fringed, lead singer Lisa. The crowd manage a game half cheer. “I guess people aren’t here because of the snow?” she asks 35 people avoiding direct eye contact. On with the show then.
What they lack in supporters they more than make up for with noise. The six members here tonight create a suitably full bodied sound driven forward by a spot-on rhythm section that careen wildly between sunny, almost calypso-like skips and funky disco riffs on the more uptempo numbers.
With a couple of the new songs the synths take on a Kraftwerk, drippy electronic cadence, nicely balanced between the two keyboardists flanking the stage. Although the vocals are perfectly nice in a terribly Scandinavian, breathy fashion they do, on occasion tend to smother the instrumental melody and would benefit from some backing vocals to lift them somewhat.
All told everything this evening felt a little chilly. Cheers were muted and the band looked mostly disappointed, at worst, on the verge of tears. Things never quite got off the ground and everyone seemed to be back out in the snow all too soon. Oh, The Concretes, come back when the weather’s warmer and show us what you can really do.