check out the photos of the gig

ADAM SAID GALORE:

First band up were a band I hadn't heard of called adam said galore. Um, yeah. The sort of band that plays mainly instrumental songs with huge long guitar solos, only they didn't exactly go anywhere, so while it may have been enlightening for them, for us it was kind of like watching a garage jam.

BIG HEAVY STUFF:

Big heavy stuff were next. They opened with devil's tongue, and I knew they had that two sisters song, so after the first song I had a rough idea who they were, but had also exhausted my knowledge of them. the rest of the set I thought had the potential to be a disappointment, but I was wrong. They haven't become my favourite band, but they're definitely on my see-every-time-they-come-back list.

SOMETING FOR KATE:

Something for kate were one of those kind of surreal bands for me. the type where even though you can reach out and touch them, they still seem kind of not quite real. a bit of band/audience interaction usually does the trick, but something for kate were very much a "we're here and you're there" band, at least for this gig.

Paul either isn't a very audience-friendly boy or he was in an off mood. I worked out early on that taking photos wasn't going to happen, not because they were cranky pricks, cos they weren't, I could just see it was going to be a bad idea. So no something for kate photos, although there are big heavy stuff photos.

Paul's chit chat was fairly limited, speaking only to point out to song requesters that there's probably no need to yell since they're only four feet away; and to another rather drunken audience member, after an audience call of "call security" paul added "or a taxi"... which, while it was good to see that he did actually realise there was an audience there, didn't really do anything to dispel the image of him as a bloke who didn't really want to have to acknowledge our existence.

Musically the gig was pretty much everything you'd expect from a band of something for kate's calibre. They know what they're about, and they play professionally. I was prepared for a text book performance, no outstanding highlights yet high quality nonetheless, and got it, until all except paul left the stage. He started with one new song with just guitar and vocal. This was followed beautiful sharks, complete with full crowd singalong. Picture this: you're in a small venue about the width of the stage and twice as long as it is wide, holding around 150 people filled wall to wall. There's a bloke out the front with a single guitar. The song is beautiful sharks, a gorgeous melodic song. The room is deathly silent, except for the guitar, the lead vocals in those gorgeous paul dempsey tones, and 150 people in a very small space all singing perfectly in time and perfectly in tune. Enough to send tingles up the spine. Especially in the "ooh-oohoohooh" bit. You know the one. Listen to the cd, and imagine it. And whatever you imagine, it was ten times better.

Overall something for kate aren't a killer live act in the sense that they don't give you that little bit extra that some bands do, but they do pull off a professional gig. Paul either isn't a very audience-friendly frontman or wasn't in an audience-friendly mood, the latter is completely excusable because after all, he's only human, but if it's the former, it's a little disappointing. But that rendiiton of beautiful sharks is enough to send anyone home happy, I think.

I didn't buy a t-shirt, because I couldn't decide which I liked more out of big heavy stuff and something for kate. But I liked them both well enough to want to buy both if I'd had the money :)

SETLISTS: