As you know well, primarily I am a rock and blues enthusiast however I do like most, not all, genres of music, therefore I was especially keen when I saw the prospective set lists for Katmandu since they were so different to what we normally hear plus there were some quite difficult tracks to perform.
Wisely they used Balding Bloke who managed to do them justice. I must say that I’m not a fan of electronic drums and this was definitely their weakest instrument. The breath of fresh air? Kat…a female singer, at one time there were several bands at The Kings fronted by a female but it is a rarity these days. Her second set vocal performance was better than the first, however Patti Smith’s “Because The Night” was well-received, and by the end of the night Kat seemed to be very relaxed and sounded more fluid and I especially liked The Divinyls “I Touch Myself” and the entire bar loved Fleetwoods Mac’s “Go Your Own Way”.
First Set
1. I’ve Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
2. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
3. That’s Not My Name - The Ting Tings
4. You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
5. Mercy - Duffy
6. Valerie - Amy Winehouse
7. Common People - Pulp
8. Next To Me - Emeli Sande
9. Womanizer - Britney Spears
10. Set Fire To The Rain - Adele
11. Because The Night - Patti Smith
12. Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri
Second Set
1. Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
2. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
3. So What - Pink
4. Left Outside Alone - Anastacia
5. I Want To Be Free - Toyah
6. Genie In A Bottle - Christina Aquilera
7. Rolling In The Deep - Adele
8. Black Horse & A Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
9. I Touch Myself - The Divinyls
10. It’s Not Fair - Lily Allen
11. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwod Mac
Encores
1. Edge Of Glory - Lady Gaga
2. Sweet About Me - Gabrielle Cilmi
3. Zombie - The Cranberries
As you can see loads and loads of first-timers at The Kings with a well thought-out couple of sets plus it was very evident by the mosh pit’s reaction that they also thoroughly enjoyed the night…along with me.
Normal service resumed at The Kings over the bank holiday weekend featuring Ignition on the Saturday night with yet another great all-round performance…their set list can be seen here. Unfortunately we’ll have to wait until Saturday November 3rd to see them again.
At very short notice Sunday night saw the very welcomed return of Hooch who are not only an extremely good band, they also play one of the best sets of covers. Their previous set listing can be found here. Yep they added one or two more and this time we actually had Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile in full. Hooch will be back on Saturday September 1st.
Ok, pulling no punches but please do read all the way to the end, the Stark reality is that their sound was absolutely dreadful, in fact for the first set there were only some drums and bass, absolutely no guitar and the vocals were also almost inaudible. The only place to hear anything was right up the front in the mosh pit, hardly a thing was travelling passed the first pillar.
With double-stacked Marshall amps evidently there was a huge sound problem and during their break a lot of fiddling and looking around was going on. The second set faired a bit better and towards the end of the night the sound did improve but still not of the standard I feel sure the band would consider acceptable.
Having written that I feel that this band definitely deserve another chance, in fact all of the musos and live music fans in the place were commenting how well they seemed to be instrumentally but at the same time how frustrating it was not to be able to hear them perform. Next time you must use Balding Bloke and I am 100% confident that you will not only sound superb but you will also show us the potential your set list promised.
Question: How can I write a blog gig review when I was not there?
Answer: Easily when several people all told me exactly the same thing!
So just what did they all tell me that was so much in common? First the bad news. The sound engineering for most of the instruments was terrible in the first set and the vocals almost non-existent, in fact so bad that many of the regulars left at the interval which is not exactly the desired effect.
But…and here comes the good news. At the interval a couple of people advised the band what was wrong and apparently the second set, obviously missed by many, was extremely good, not still quite right sound wise but certainly ok to listen to and it did do the band justice.
Plus there is another piece of very good news. I am told that all the tracks chosen for the two sets were absolutely superb for their 90s tribute, unfortunately I can’t list them since I don’t have the set list however if the band would like to email it, I’ll post it. I have a feeling we shall be seeing them again with a real polished performance:-)
Added 27th April 2012
Thanks to Shine for sending through their set list. I’m not sure if this is in the order played so…
Misshapes - Pulp
100 Mile High - Ocean Colour Scene
Jailbird - Primal Scream
The One I Love - R.E.M.
Chasing Rainbows - Shed 7
Some Might Say - Oasis
Slight Return - Seahorses
Local Boy - Stereophonics
Babies - Pulp
Cigarettes & Alcohol - Oasis
This Charming Man - Morrisey
She Bangs The Drum - The Stone Roses
You’ve Got It Bad - Ocean Colour Scene
Get Your Rocks Off - Primal Scream
Hush - Kula Shaker
Disco 2000 - Pulp
Common People - Pulp
Friday I’m In Love - The Cure
I am the Reserection - The Stone Roses
The Day We Caught The Train - Ocean Colour Scene
Don’t Look Back In Anger - Oasis
Six months, it can’t be six months since they were last here! No wonder it was a busy bar from start to finish.
Once again Cappuccino appeared as a quintet and they had obviously been practicing loads of new songs and writing some of their own for their two sets. I have no set lists since they seem to jump about inside their song book as they react favourably with the crowd, that’s the way to do it.
Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the gig and there were always people up and dancing all through the bar and the sound, of course, was ably engineered by Balding Bloke. Bits of Cappuccino will be appearing with Vanilla Smooth on Friday 25th May 2012.