By Chris Rockson
'Girl, I wanna take
you to a Gay-Bar....I've got something to put in you....at the
Gay-Bar, Gay-Bar...' well, well, well...I simply couldn't wait to see
Electric Six when they played in my hometown in December.
I had been asked,
repeatedly by my son, Liam, to take him to his next show at the
Academy...''please, please, please...you'll love it!!'' and other such
statements...to the point where I was at breaking point and ready to
carry out a mortal sin...anyway, he plays me a couple of tunes down
his I-Pod, and apart from the one's that I knew from a couple of years
ago, admit that Electric Six were a bit of a mystery to me. They
seemed to be in a genre of their own, a mix, somewhere between
electro-dance, punk, metal, house, and you name it...didn't really
feature on my, somewhat 'blinkered' radar anyway...but what a nice
surprise I had!!!
Upon arrival, we
were told that the Electric Six show was 'sold-out completely', and the
box office only had ONE, yep, ONE ticket left....Liam's face was a
picture! He looked like those guys on TV when the gameshow host jumps
out from behind the screen, after the poor unfortunate's house has
just been wrecked..only to say 'surprise, surprise...it wasn't REALLY
your house, but a cardboard copy'.....or ' you've been framed'...or
worse, 'Smile, you're on candid camera'....he was in a state of shock,
and so was I, we'd queued outside for 40 minutes!!!! I was
fucked if the poor lad wasn't getting in to see his heroes...so I did
what any father would....I bought tickets from a seller outside the
venue. I would have just got in the car and fucked off back home if I
was alone and couldn't get in, rather than buy from these scumbags,
but this was another case altogether!
And, as it turned
out, I was completely glad that I did...as when we got into the venue,
I learnt that the 'Eureka Machines' were playing support.
A better band you
couldn't wish to witness....tight, fun, unusual, down-to-earth, fun,
strange, fast, tight, fun, new, amazing, fun, funny, fucking
awesome!!!! Can't quite find the right word for 'em, so I won't bother
anymore, just go and see 'em play live...what a show!!! They can't
help it if they come from Leeds....more on the Eureka's later, but for
now, it's Electric Six time..
The band are as
tight as they have always been, and when Dick Valentine walks onto the
stage, dressed head to foot in a kinda KKK gown, but in a lovely black
silk type arrangement, with the word 'Kill' on the back, you just know
we are in for something special. I can't quite work out how I'm going
to react to this show, but am prepared to give anything a go, so it's
on with the show....
A quick glance
around the absolutely packed venue and its quite clear that this band
is overly popular with the student audience...fuck! I feel so old
here!!! But, they are all having a great time, gyrating and dancing
away to the ever-more growing upon me dance track, playing
on-stage....I'm actually blown away by the sound that they have, and
Dick even acknowledges that fact too by asking everyone to applaud the
sound engineer at the end of the almost 2 hour set.
They blasted
through the set, including old favourites such as 'High Voltage' and
'Gay Bar'....but after each and every song, there are massive cries
for a song called 'Dance Commander'....I begin to wonder why??
Anyway,
the show continues at such a great pace, and the beat gets stronger
with every song, I am actually, genuinely enjoying this show now...and
it all seems to end too quickly, before the enigmatic front-man jokes
with the crowd about 'Little Boots' who is playing 'upstairs' on the
main stage...when only a few years ago, it was his own band....but
he's a genuinely intelligent geezer is old Dick, and his 'act' is
extremely well received...and then it's time for the 'Dance Commander'
to appear....
I strongly
recommend checking out Electric Six, if you ain't already....what a
great show!!!
Nice One
Guys!!
SoundCheck Rating :
