It was also strange to see the Scandal play in a place that I'd never even heard of - there aren't that many pubs with live music in London that fall into this category. The Cross Kings did have a former life as a grotty boozer called The Backpackers, stuck up the road in what one might call the arse end of Kings Cross. It has since been refurbished into a much less grotty boozer, but the location still isn't great of course - it is amazing how central some places are in London, but difficult to get people to go to.
After some beers outside in the (semi) early evening sunshine, we descended underground to the Jester Bar for their set. Brighton Away was a huge highlight, as was new song House Of Cards - hearing it live for the first time really highlighted what a great song it is - the sound of the Scandal getting funky! Generally, they seem to be getting increasingly tight - although the practically empty room didn't help build an electric atmosphere for the show, nevertheless the band ripped through their set with the minimum of fuss. A couple of songs in the set sounded different to last time I heard them - The Collection had lost the excellent guitar solo and shouty bit; and set closer Soul And Power had substantially different words and chorus arrangements. Having heard both for the first time, I'm not immediately sure if they make the songs better - I kind of liked them as they were!
The headline band on the night were Ten City Nation, a band that have been formed out of the ashes of a number of previous bands. They sounded very good indeed I thought, pretty professional, and their CD got a listen on the stereo when I got home after the gig.
No comments:
Post a Comment