Flipron and Misty's Big Adventure 30/11/2008

So! Again, I find myself apologising for a tardy review, which I am, indeed, sorry for. I have no real excuse, except that my life feels more sorted now, so I don't mind 'wasting' time on this (as opposed to applying for jobs, for example). This was a gig I was looking forward to for a long while (it felt that way anyway), as I have loved Flipron since I saw them at Beautiful Days, and Misty's Big Adventure since I saw them doing support for Dodgy. This was the final night of a dual headline tour, which apparently nearly didn't happen due to a vanishing tour manager, or something.

To fully appreciate this gig, you need to have an idea of the venue - the Thekla is special. It's a boat, sat on the river in the middle of Bristol! Excellent! It's got a very nice bar upstairs, in which me and my friends enjoyed some mighty fine (of somewhat over priced) cider in comfort and style (as I was in a suit for this, in support of the band's style, this was important to me!). Downstairs in the bowels of the boat is the venue proper. This is small to middling sized at 350 capacity, but there is a balcony over looking the stage, so the dance floor is not much bigger than the Cardiff Barfly. It's really quite cool as a venue, as there's plenty of clues to remind you you're on a boat, which made me smile every time I remembered.

Support duties for the night were taken care off in a most excellent manner by the really very good Duckworths. They are friends of Flipron who had asked them especially for the final night of the tour, and I am very glad they did! They reminded me a little of Flipron, but are distinctly more rocky, with a certain something that makes me think of the old American mid west for some (inexplicable as I listen to the album) reason - though I'm not much good with obscure music, so someone else may put their finger on it for me? I would try and describe their sound, but my vocabulary is failing me, and they aren't easy to describe anyway! (I might be thinking salsa influences, but I might have the wrong name...) Just go and listen to their myspace and you'll get the idea! It was a shame that the venue hadn't filled even by the time they had finished their set, as there wasn't anyone dancing for most (all?!) of it, but the audience were pretty vocally approving between songs, so it wasn't a complete miss! I was impressed enough to buy an album - even though it meant one less from Flipron or Misty's later, and I am very glad I did as it's been in heavy rotation ever since!

Flipron were next, and happily the venue had filled out a bit with fans (the last Flipron gig I went to started out woefully under attended, though by the end they had crammed the little pub to the gills). They had some funky little bits of hawaiian flower necklaces to spruce up the stage a bit, and a cool 'Gravity Calling' bass drum skin. There was a little difficulty with the bass amp in a couple of places, but they got past it, and pulled off a great gig. There were a number of songs from the new album, which went down very well, including one with their first rock and roll guitar solo, to which Jesse got the crowd to gurn and do the rock/devil fingers to help him get into the spirit and do some gurning ahd flailing himself! There was also a nice one about zombies, continuuing their theme of humanising the most peculiar beasts - Lions, Zombies and Cerberus to name a few things I now have a desire to hug and be nice to...

I really think I need to go to some dance lessons soon, as I beleive Flipron (and indeed The Duckworths) would be even more enjoyable if you can do a little more than 'Dad dance'. Especially their funky hawaiian style slide guitar based instrumentals, inspired by such things as Skeletons on Holiday. Though I would have to take care with dance partners, as I think singing 'Big Baboon' could cause some offense if mis-targeted!

They got out most of the favourites (there was one or two I would've liked that weren't played, but you can't have everything!), including 'Big Baboon' (most requested of the night) and the only song that requires an accordian - 'Rusty Casino's Casino Rustique'. It was generally just great fun, and everyone enjoyed a good dance about.

Finally (and with only an hourish left before the curfew) Misty's Big Adventure arrived on stage. For those that don't know them, they are an 8 piece band which combines a brass section and ska influenced guitar, driving drums and bass, and intentionally 'bored' voccals. I'm not sure it's possible to make it sound like you care less about anything than 'Grandmaster Gareth' manages, which especially when combined with some of the more true to life lyrics makes for a wonderful combination. This is all multiplied by a factor of 10 live, especially by the addition of Erotic Volvo, the dancer. This guy is a legend, dressed in bright red overalls covered in blue hands, he spends 90% of the gig dancing around like mad, complete with some nicely thought through (choreographed sounds all wrong!) moves, like the human (Volvo?) clock for 'I can't Bring The Time Back'.

The energy goes up a notch or two from Flipron to Misty's, and with Erotic Volvos excellent example everyone was skanking and dancing away from the start. My knowledge of song names was pretty rusty at the gig, as I didn't have any albums, but I know they played most of the classics, such as 'Night Time Better Than Day Time', 'Never Stops, Never Rests, Never Sleeps', 'Elevator Escalator Stairs' and 'Fashion Parade'. I think they played 'The Wising Up Song' too, which is a personal favourite, mostly for the chorus: "Why must we go to the disco? Why would I want to go there? Everyone's dancing and gets all dressed up, and their only concern is their hair! Why must we go to the nightclub? Why must we go to the nightclub? I don't like the music they play, Everyone's drinking and gets all messed up, and I don't have another word to say!"

Sadly, they were caught by the curfew, the managed to squeeze in a two or three song encore before they started packing up. But the crowd weren't happy, and kept up the chanting for more until they got another encore (a real one!) of another two or three songs. A great nights music and dancing was had by all, and I look forward to the next time I see all three bands live!

Pictures are available HERE. Sadly I was pretty busy dancong and showing off my 3-piece suit and pocket watch to take many, and those that are there ain't great... Though that's largely the Thekla's (and/or the band's I suppose) fault as it was damn dark, with very little in the way of lighting.

Upcoming glogs (when I find inspiration again):

Streetlight Manifesto

Dodgy

Upcoming Gigs:

02/03/09: Bluetones 13th anniversary of 'Expecting to Fly' tour (with Misty's Big Adventure support)

01/04/09: The Rumble Strips in Cardiff - if I miss the Thkla tickets...

06/04/09: The Rumble Strips at the Thekla

03/07/09: Blur at Hyde Park. Oh yeah. That's right. I cannot wait.

P.S. If anyone's actually reading these, do you wanna gimme some feedback please? Do I ramble too much, as I suspect? Or is that good? Thanks!