Having seen the wonderful Blind Shake earlier this year – I thought “If they’re supporting Thee Oh Sees, they must be brilliant!” There’s been a lot of talk about how good Thee Oh Sees are live (mainly by Marc Riley on 6Music) and I’m here to tell you….it’s all true……believe the hype!
Having spent the afternoon in ‘Greenfield’ at Mikes stag do (heavy rain stopped the crown green bowling so it was snooker, darts and dominos) I met up with Foggy who’d come over to Leeds from Warrington for the gig, Sledge, Ana Luisa and Steve. Things started well with a set from ‘Magnetix‘ who thundered through their set with hugh enthusiasm. A theme that was to infuse the evening.
The Blind Shake were on fire – merciless drumming from Dave Roper (often standing up he was so into it) with the Blaha Brothers abusing their guitars to the max – kicking out, playing a sweaty noisey wigged out surf rocking set – Loved them!
‘How’s anyone going to top that!’ I thought….then Thee Oh Sees stared with their 2 drummers up front and centre and, oh my – what followed was a masterclass in fast, unrelenting, musical joy! Everyone around me was jumping around with big smiles on their faces and the crowd surfers had a field day. Chief Oh See-er, John Dwyer, holds his guitar high up on his chest and often looks like he’s using it as a rifle – this machine kills factiousness…..
Gig of the year? Yeah – gig of the year!
Bob the Chiropodist
