A rare foray south of the river for me, and a new venue, the Blues Kitchen Brixton. And a really nice venue too. This is the upstairs bar where the gig was - and its quite a large space, with a decent sized stage to boot. Even the two five piece bands didn't seem cramped, compared to many of the Camden venues where they are often elbow to elbow.
The downstairs bar is even cooler
So I came here mainly because I wanted to see Sweet Unrest again. Love these guys. But ironically never seem to get to see them on their home turf as although they have now returned to play the Camden Eye every fortnight on a Friday night, I always seem to have other things on - tomorrow Dara O'Briain, fortnight after dinner in Oxford, fortnight after that on holiday, fortnight after that a gig at Dingwalls....etc
Opening was Charlie Blitz, who a cursory look on internet suggested was a black reggae singer, but lo it turned out to be a white rapper from Bromley. Am afraid I just can't get beyond my total failure to get rap as an art form. Just not very good poetry spouted at speed and with monotonous tone. If I was going to like a rapper it might have been this engaging young man, who seemed genuinely stoked to be playing here. But, even with the introduction of his mate (inevitably "brother"), Blythe this just didn't capture my interest even fleetingly. Also felt an odd bit of casting - a rapper before two five piece rock bands. Like putting a concert pianist on as a support to a heavy metal band.
Charlie and Blythe below. Might take this opportunity to observe that the lighting was not great for taking photos even though I had got myself right to the front. Low lights and moving subjects equals blurring.
So onto Sweet Unrest. I mentioned to Tom that this was a new venue for me and he said it was the same for them. Jack also plugged their Camden shows because there were a "lot of new faces here tonight". I think there truly is a north/south London divide. We north Londoners were in a foreign realm. Which is obviously an opportunity to impress a new crowd. And without being packed this was a decent sized crowd who had turned up for the whole show, not just to see the headliners.
A good little set from the boys - no surprises as I have heard them all before. But rather than being bored by that, I like the familiarity. And genuinely think they are very good.
Jack didn't take too long before removing jacket and t-shirt
Marlon was right in front of where I was, but that didn't make it easy to take photos of him, or indeed his successor in the next band, because that was not where the lighting generally went!
And finally headliners the Rizz, who had been recommended to me. Indeed they are quite comparable to Sweet Unrest although I think Sweet Unrest are the better band. For a start they have better songs, although maybe that only reflects that I have heard all of Sweet Unrest's output multiple times and this was my first exposure to the Rizz repertoire. Sweet Unrest are undoubtedly a better looking bunch of guys. And also just more entertaining on stage, although the lead singer of the Rizz has some presence. Both have three guitarists and a drummer, play somewhere in a punk lite style, and have a lead vocalist who is untrammeled by a guitar and therefore can concentrate on being an entertainer.
And both bands played one old cover - Sweet Unrest their usual Play that Funky Music (by Wild Cherry), the Rizz playing the Clash's London Calling (and doing a very decent job of it).
Using my normal band quality test, would I go out of my way to see the Rizz again? No probably not. Would I be happy if they turned up on another bill? Yes very much so. Afraid I don't really see them breaking out of South London and conquering the country. But I may be proved wrong!
Prior to the gig I was drinking with colleagues (not a healthy night - three drinks, no food!) one of whom was commenting on how expensive gigs were now, and how you used to be able to just roll up and get a ticket on the door. Now you virtually need to put your name down at birth for tickets and re-mortgage the house to pay for them. Except no, you just have to hunt out these bands and these places. nearly all my gigs are around £10 and some of the venues are great. (This one even had nice loos. Not, I admit, always the case....).
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