Kula Shaker, Anson Rooms, Bristol 05/02/08
Entry posted by thelevellers
667 views
Ok, for my first gig review post I'm not going to start at the beginning, I can't remember that far back! So instead I'm going to start with my first gig of 2008...
Kula Shaker, 05/02/2008
I suppose I should point out (so you see any possible bias) that I've been a big fan of Kula Shaker for about 10 years now, and have been dying to see them ever since they reformed in 2006... That said I've been to enough gigs to know when even a much loved band is having an off night!
The gig started with support from 'Dr. Joel and the Companeros' (otherwise known as a top quality tabla player and Kula Shaker as their Italian alter egos with awesome wigs!) who played a chilled out acoustic set, with lots of crowd participation and a nice rendition of 'Radhe' to finish. It was just about what I expected from them and was a good way to get in to the right, slightly trippy, mood.
This set was followed by the usual interlude, but with a great video bashing the governments proposed ID cards, doing it's best to get the audience on side thrown into the mix.
Then Kula Shaker took to the stage, kicking it all off with a storming cover of 'Kick Out The Jams' which went down a storm with an already eager crowd. From here it just got better and better, I can't remember the entire set-list, but the only song I really missed that they didn't play was 'Smart Dogs', so it was a pretty perfect set for me! The band made great use of video screens for some great visuals, from the silhouette of Jerry Garcia for the awesome 'Jerry was There' to the animation of a guy in a boat for the hurricane Katrina inspired song 'Hurricane Season'. Between that and Crispian's front man antics I was kept well entertained!
Seeing bands with such a strong fan base as Kula shaker is always a joy, as the crowd go wild for every song and everyone is obviously enjoying themselves so much, it's hard not to have a great time. When the band is on top form and playing both classics such as 'Hey Dude', 'Knight on the Town' and '303' alongside their newer (in my opinion just as good) material, such as 'Out on the Highway' (for which Crispian invited us to imagine the interesting image of Jeremy Clarkson naked and on fire and the side of the road) and 'Great Dictator' it results in a frenzy of dancing and singing that shouldn't be cut of by such petty things as curfews...
To cap it all off they pulled of a storming encore, possibly playing 'Hush', although my memory is somewhat hazy, but definitely ending on the awesome grand finale of 'Govinda' which just about blew me away... I can't wait until their next tour!
4 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now