I’d never knowing heard of a song from British Sea Power until my awesome partner took me along to see them live Wednesday at Shepard’s Bush. I must admit, I’m a picky so-and-so when it comes to music. Two artists could sing the same song near on identical and I’d probably adore one far more than the other. Rock is one of those genres that I love but I can also switch off if it just doesn’t grab me. I’ll be honest – when British Sea Power came out for their acoustic opening set I struggled. The vocals were a bit wobbly and the songs slightly in no mans land. Then Toy came on and refused to budge from playing the same singular chord in a supposed musical orgasm for literally twenty-five minutes. I was bored with that and I thought I was in for the long haul….
Then British Sea Power came out for their main set… and it was fantastic.
If I’m honest, I have no idea what many of the song titles were but my general observations were that they are a rock band whom enjoy themselves immensely on stage and it fed through to everyone in the audience. Most tracks had a certain twist on something. Be it a trumpet playing along with the guitar, the violin padding out the synths or the two lead vocalists belting it out. The secondary vocalist that seemed very exposed in the acoustic set fitted in perfectly when it all went plugged. Some people just have a voice that even if it’s not the strongest, lends itself well to a certain sound and here he shone. There weren’t massive numbers all the way through but each song held an atmosphere that I really tapped into. A big shout out to the visuals behind the band too. Zippy sock puppets, evil dolls and on stage polar bear costumes having a fight with the band – you were always entertained.
I’ll leave you with a few clips from the evening from other people’s footage. I’m looking forward to discovering more about the band in the future…