Post by stesync on Aug 24, 2007 20:47:27 GMT
Nitzer Ebb, Kik, The Devonshire Cat
The Corporation, Sheffield 03/08/07
Reviewed by Steve Sync
Pics by Roger Subway
After seeing Nitzer Ebb last year at Tinitus Festival in Stockholm, I assumed that would be the last I saw or heard from them as they only re-formed and toured to promote their (greatest hits) ‘Body Of Work’ album; So it came as a surprise to me to find out they had written new songs and were touring the world again this year. With one UK date (Sheffield) I thought it would only be right for me to show my support and attend the gig as I’d travelled much further to see them in the past (London, Leicester, Stockholm). Roger Subway (chauffeur to the stars) was also keen to see them having not seen them for over 10 years himself so transport was not an issue (phew).
What a fucking ball ache when you have to drive through rush hour traffic all the way from Manchester to Sheffield, we gave ourselves a good 2 hours leeway when we set off but it ended up taking us an hour more than it should have to get there. Once there, things didn’t get any easier as Sheffield is much bigger than we anticipated so we were twating around trying to find the venue for a while also!
The Devonshire Cat wasn’t one of the support acts (although it sort of was for us) but a pub located a few doors away from The Corporation venue. This alehouse is worthy of being included in this review as it is one of the best pubs I’ve ever used. It had a huge variety of world beers on draught, and a massive selection of bottled world beers in a glass display room! (pic above) I set to work straight away on a European tour of beers ending up on a spot on 7% Belgian trappist beer brewed by monks! On top of that, the food was superb as well (Rog mentioned that the Coke wasn’t bad either).
After enjoying the hospitality at the pub, we strolled down to the venue which was still pretty empty but when we saw equipment being taken apart and new equipment being set up, we realised that whilst I was drinking my way across Europe, we were actually missing the first band! "Never mind, they couldn't have been as good as the pub" I thought as Kik took to the stage. Kik are a 5 piece Alternative Electro Rock outfit from Sheffield who've been described as "Fusing Synths, Rock Guitars... and Heavy Eyeliner!" Their music was fairly interesting in a Glam Rock Industrial Techno kind of way and the guitarists also have synthesizers to switch to which can make songs sound more interesting and diverse (if they're fucking plugged in!) They're a visual band and have a 7ft tall synth/space guitar/wobbly noise box player who's surname surely must be Munster from his appearance (no offence mate!) and Uncle Fester on drums, along with the wiry glamed up 'Stones' style front man posing and contorting their way through the set. Their songs weren't bad in my opinion, Rog thought they were excellent and they did play a cracking last song.
Nitzer Ebb are an acquired taste and never had a huge UK fan base but looking around tonight, the numbers have dwindled away over the years considering this was their only UK tour date (although they did play a couple of secret gigs in London apparently). Kourtney Klein (tall, blonde, stunning) took her position behind her drums followed by Bon Harris (short, stocky, menacing) looking through the crowd for old faces (they don't get much older than ours!) and Doug McCarthy (slim, sunglasses, cool) stood statuesque at the front waiting for Getting Closer to start proceedings. They played the same set as they did in Stockholm last year plus 2 new good songs 'Once You Say', and 'Payroll' which didn't sound out of place amongst the rest of the virtually 17 year old set! Old classic after old classic kept coming - Hearts And Minds, Blood Money, Lightening Man, Join In The Chant and other well known chart toppers!! Nitzer Ebb notoriously ad lib live from time to time caused by a frantic backline of baselines, percussion and noises, and Doug the vocalist switching, changing, forgetting his vocals over it. This doesn't effect the result in a bad way and some songs sometimes sound more interesting for it. Doug's lyrics have a lot of repeated words or sentences in them which should make it easier to remember, although tonight I felt that I remembered more of his lyrics than he did. I did read after this gig that the band were planning on playing live a lot more now they've re-formed and written more material but I'm not sure I'll get to see them again.....although I did say that last time!!
The Corporation, Sheffield 03/08/07
Reviewed by Steve Sync
Pics by Roger Subway
After seeing Nitzer Ebb last year at Tinitus Festival in Stockholm, I assumed that would be the last I saw or heard from them as they only re-formed and toured to promote their (greatest hits) ‘Body Of Work’ album; So it came as a surprise to me to find out they had written new songs and were touring the world again this year. With one UK date (Sheffield) I thought it would only be right for me to show my support and attend the gig as I’d travelled much further to see them in the past (London, Leicester, Stockholm). Roger Subway (chauffeur to the stars) was also keen to see them having not seen them for over 10 years himself so transport was not an issue (phew).
What a fucking ball ache when you have to drive through rush hour traffic all the way from Manchester to Sheffield, we gave ourselves a good 2 hours leeway when we set off but it ended up taking us an hour more than it should have to get there. Once there, things didn’t get any easier as Sheffield is much bigger than we anticipated so we were twating around trying to find the venue for a while also!
The Devonshire Cat wasn’t one of the support acts (although it sort of was for us) but a pub located a few doors away from The Corporation venue. This alehouse is worthy of being included in this review as it is one of the best pubs I’ve ever used. It had a huge variety of world beers on draught, and a massive selection of bottled world beers in a glass display room! (pic above) I set to work straight away on a European tour of beers ending up on a spot on 7% Belgian trappist beer brewed by monks! On top of that, the food was superb as well (Rog mentioned that the Coke wasn’t bad either).
After enjoying the hospitality at the pub, we strolled down to the venue which was still pretty empty but when we saw equipment being taken apart and new equipment being set up, we realised that whilst I was drinking my way across Europe, we were actually missing the first band! "Never mind, they couldn't have been as good as the pub" I thought as Kik took to the stage. Kik are a 5 piece Alternative Electro Rock outfit from Sheffield who've been described as "Fusing Synths, Rock Guitars... and Heavy Eyeliner!" Their music was fairly interesting in a Glam Rock Industrial Techno kind of way and the guitarists also have synthesizers to switch to which can make songs sound more interesting and diverse (if they're fucking plugged in!) They're a visual band and have a 7ft tall synth/space guitar/wobbly noise box player who's surname surely must be Munster from his appearance (no offence mate!) and Uncle Fester on drums, along with the wiry glamed up 'Stones' style front man posing and contorting their way through the set. Their songs weren't bad in my opinion, Rog thought they were excellent and they did play a cracking last song.
Nitzer Ebb are an acquired taste and never had a huge UK fan base but looking around tonight, the numbers have dwindled away over the years considering this was their only UK tour date (although they did play a couple of secret gigs in London apparently). Kourtney Klein (tall, blonde, stunning) took her position behind her drums followed by Bon Harris (short, stocky, menacing) looking through the crowd for old faces (they don't get much older than ours!) and Doug McCarthy (slim, sunglasses, cool) stood statuesque at the front waiting for Getting Closer to start proceedings. They played the same set as they did in Stockholm last year plus 2 new good songs 'Once You Say', and 'Payroll' which didn't sound out of place amongst the rest of the virtually 17 year old set! Old classic after old classic kept coming - Hearts And Minds, Blood Money, Lightening Man, Join In The Chant and other well known chart toppers!! Nitzer Ebb notoriously ad lib live from time to time caused by a frantic backline of baselines, percussion and noises, and Doug the vocalist switching, changing, forgetting his vocals over it. This doesn't effect the result in a bad way and some songs sometimes sound more interesting for it. Doug's lyrics have a lot of repeated words or sentences in them which should make it easier to remember, although tonight I felt that I remembered more of his lyrics than he did. I did read after this gig that the band were planning on playing live a lot more now they've re-formed and written more material but I'm not sure I'll get to see them again.....although I did say that last time!!