This is the second of the ‘Amplified’ gigs and right from the beginning of the night the school hall fills up quickly with wide-eyed jittery young people, while some of the older sceptics bunch together and complain about the amount of trendies that the night has attracted.
The first resident band to grace the stage is The Moose Farmers, with an average age of 14, this is only their second gig in front of their peers, and their first gig with recent replacement drummer Lewis. However, nervousness aside, the band are audibly pleasing, even managing to pull off a cover of The Darkness’ ‘Thing Called Love’ and playing a song of their own, ‘Roast Like Beef’ (which we still need the lyrics for Tom…), which is impressive considering their comparative youth and inexperience to the other bands on the bill.
Next up were ‘Dunno’, who, considering this is their first gig, are very confident and easy mannered on stage, covering Jet’s ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ with finesse and a tambourine, which circulated the room for the rest of the night. Singer Mike’s voice is impressive and not a trace of nervousness is detectable.
After Dunno come Hornsea veterans Unforeseen Circumstances, or UFC. Opening with an AMAZING acoustic cover of Finch’s ‘Letters To You’, which actually sounds better than the original, due to drummer/occasional vocalist Chris Lee’s outstanding voice. UFC are then joined onstage by one of Hornsea’s French teachers, Mr Holmes. Funny this may sound, but unfortunately they have already done it twice, and its beginning to get a little bit boring. The rest of UFC’s set is much better, and faultless throughout.
Legacy are the next band in the spotlight, this band, previously known as Turkish Swimsuit, has one of the best guitarists in the school, and they could go far, unfortunately for them however, the bands only saving grace, Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name Of…’ is destroyed by the school’s ridiculous swearing ban.
Next came one of Hornsea’s most anticipated bands, Red Line To Exit, who never fail to impress, and know an notable amount of songs including Muse and Chili Pepper classics, and their show consists of a lot of effort and bad jokes.
Co Jack and The Longhairs are the last band to perform, this band has an unbelievable air of professionalism, considering they are still only sixth formers. They open with a ten-minute funk-rock instrumental, accompanied by vocalist Jack Hobson dancing inside a ‘liberated’ traffic cone; this has every person in the room staring like demented monkeys and their presence on stage is something to admire. They finish off the evening with a run through some classics and the trendies are separated from the moshers as the room empties. All in all, it was so good, they are doing it again, on March 19th, so go and have some fun for God’s sake.