Facebook Slider

Hidden Door At The Edinburgh International Festival : The Jesus And Mary Chain, Leith Theatre

  • Published in Live

 

The Light On The Shore strand of The Edinburgh International Festival continues with a night of music curated by Hidden Door who are a driving force behind the resurrection of the Leith Theatre from council storage site to arts venue.

Their show tonight features three Scottish bands. The first up are Spinning Coin who play as a four piece with lead vocal duties swapping between the falsetto of Sean Armstrong and the baritone of Jack Mellin. Their short songs have a lo-fi, jangling-guitar sound and show some influence from The Pastels. The numbers which work best in this set are less slacker and more rock-protest, such as a ‘Powerful’. However, they miss a unifying element to bring together the set which, with the very different feel of the lead vocalists, feels a little schizophrenic.  

Next up, with the theatre near to full, are Honeyblood. The drum and guitar duo have changed the style of their live performance since the early stages of the tour of their second (and most recent) album Babes Never Die. The guitar of Stina Tweeddale has more bass and distortion than previously and so the songs have a much rockier feel. Stina’s vocals also have a deeper, stronger quality to match the guitar sound. They open with ‘Justine, Misery Queen’ and continue with songs about having strength and power to face haters, cheats and critics. The new sound matches this theme of empowerment and is maybe clearest in the difference between their earlier diatribe against ‘Super Rat’ which remains a great singalong of insults and ‘Babes Never Die’ which comes over as a story of overcoming betrayal. Honeyblood drive on with Cat Myers keeping a strong rhythm and on ‘Killer Bangs’ she seems to be appropriately pounding the cymbals like she is trying to drive them into the stage floor. The set finishes with a roaring version of ‘Ready For The Magic’ which features a cheeky bridge where Tweeddale holds a sustained note while Myers necks her bottle of beer. That’s swagger.

Finally, we reach the main act, The Jesus And Mary Chain who set up as a five piece of three guitars, drummer and Jim Reid in front of an array of lights pointing out at the audience. This combined with the downlighting of the stage mean that for most of the gig the band members are hidden or vague shadows with only Reid a clear silhouette for the crowd. One welcome feature of this set-up is that from deep in the audience it is possible to see the stage without obstruction from hundreds of camera screens. It also means the audience focus is on the sound not the band’s movements on stage.

The band open with ‘Amputation’ from the most recent album, Damage And Joy and immediately, their signature rock and roll sound with heavy guitar distortion is clear. This is not a band that should feel like it is a limb cut-off from rock music. As the gig develops, they set out to show this is not the case. The indie classic ‘Head On’ is followed by ‘Blues From A Gun’ which shows the ability to give a blues tilt while ‘Between Planets’ has a danceable, almost pop feel. The basic three chord tunes and the large number of excellent hooks keep appearing and the audience are all in motion. The band use dynamic range to good effect in ‘Some Candy Talking’ where the soft, slow vocals are contrasted with an ear-bursting guitar break. The planned set ends with a rave-like ‘Reverence’ and the floor is bouncing.

The variation continues into the encores which begin with the loping classic ‘Just Like Honey’ and end six tunes later with a raucous chant-along of ‘I Hate Rock And Roll’. This final sentiment is one that this whole gig screams is a monstrous disingenuity but then, the Reid brothers would probably just grin, shrug and walk off to the applause.

Further photographs from the gig can be viewed here.

Read more...

Hidden Door Festival, Leith Theatre, Edinburgh - Opening Night

  • Published in Live
Tonight was a triumph, albeit with a slightly odd running order making for a disjointed start.
 
The billing of Gwenno, Dream Wife and Nadine Shah together was an excellent mix of the new and the maturing. Only the placing of Stina Tweeddale (one half of Honeyblood) as the second act rather cooled things off after the initial fine start.
 
Gwenno and band were on sharp at 19:00 and turned in a great performance, full of anecdotal chat, very well received renditions of tracks from current album Le Kov (including the audience chanting along in Cornish about cheese) and earlier material. Clearly pleased to be part of the festival she was full of good cheer and thoroughly at home in the excellent venue.
 
Change over times were decent tonight, with some contemporary dance going on on the auditorium floor at a couple of points just to divert the attention. Doubtless this would have proved difficult if the event had sold out. Stina Tweeddale was therefore not too long in coming onstage to do her best with solo versions of some Honeyblood tracks. To her credit she at least kept it electric. Shorn of their drum parts, however, the tunes too often didn't do the business (unlike when seen here). As the opening act or in a more intimate setting she'd have been fine but, whether to meet a promise to appear or whatever, this wasn't the most inspired programming.
 
Thankfully the threads of excitement remaining from Gwenno & gang's performance were easily grasped & pulled tight by Dream Wife. Currently on the crest of a wave the quartet were brimming with energy and all too happy to unleash it upon the appreciative crowd. Obviously relishing the space afforded by the theatre's stage singer Rakel Mjöll in particular bounded about its entirety, striking balletic poses now and again when returning briefly to a standstill. Less controversial than sometimes reported when headlining they stuck pretty much to entertaining, with just a brief attempt to conflate the social mores of not quite 100 years ago as reflected backstage at the theatre (changing rooms denoted by gender as well as place in the company - instrumentalist, singer etc.) with modern gender bias. Depends I suppose who you're happy disrobing in front of at work although I doubt it's a free-for-all at the Royal Lyceum or elsewhere.
 
I last saw Nadine Shah in 2015 (here) but she seems to have undergone something of a change, into a rather more vampish stage presence (although in no way camp or pretentious). Being fed up singing "about my crap lovelife" maybe has something to do with that. Current album Holiday Destination is though (probably) her most political to date so all black attire, Doc Martins and a serious bob make more sense. Coupled with her easy engagement with the audience and clear pleasure at finally playing Edinburgh she and the band could do no wrong, evening managing to mention the negative aspects of nationalism without getting heckled before later eliciting a resounding cheer for deriding Brexit. All in this was the performance we deserved after the mostly great work put in to prime us for it and it capped off a great introduction for those of us who'd not previously partaken of the festival's musical programme.
 
Special mention should be given here to the lighting onstage at Leith Theatre. A lot of thought has clearly gone in to the displays used during the performances and that, coupled with the very well mixed and balanced sound (helped along by the great acoustics) contributed a lot to the overall show. Further evidence that there could have been some great shows staged here in the 30 years of it's ludicrous period of disuse but a very positive pointer to what can be achieved from now on. Well done to all concerned.
 
Hidden Door continues until June 03 - further details here.
 
Further photographs from this part of it can be found here.
Read more...
Subscribe to this RSS feed