Herman Dune,Royal City,John Stammers Live Review @ The Kings Arms - Salford (Greater Manchester) - 25 Jun 2004
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Live Review
Soothing home based acoustic led pop music produced by John Stammer plus 2 opened the evening, warmly reverberating around the attic like venue, metaphorically hugging each member of the audience with its warmth and feeling. Bright ballad's such as debut single 'Ivy & Dennis' made for a laid back and contented start to proceedings. Subtle percussion was produced with a deft touch from the drummer whose well timed participation added to the heart warming feeling of the opening set. Stammer's ironic wit after one of the songs; "thank you Glastonbury" hit home a poignant message that good music is good music, no matter where it is played.
Touring in promotion of their soulfully tantalizing second album 'Little Heart's Ease', the Toronto four piece Royal City wooed the gathered audience with their uplifting mix of sincere and succinct songs. The set consisted of tracks from their compelling, raw and almost Dylan like first album 'Alone At The Microphone', including the impressive 'My Brother is The Meat Man' and numbers from the latest album like the longing 'Count The Days'. Front man Aaron Riches bounced off the crowd, as without the aid of a set list he improvised and molded the set into a tender and emotive crowd pleasing offering. This was no more prevalent than in the finale when the sharp 'Spacey Basement' was followed by the newer 'My Body Is Numbered' that saw Riches and his backing vocalists create that Simon & Garfunkel feeling, before throwing themselves into a ballad for the lackluster; 'Bad Luck'. Royal City's fleeting trip to these shores is a much needed breath of fresh air with their sound having the potential to blow away indie lovers all over; hopefully they will return very soon.
The cosmopolitan Swedish born and Paris based headliners the Herman Dune brothers (Andre & David-Ivar) produced a set of irreverent anti folk and neat art pop music, cementing their status as an alternative to this sap pop that is annoying flooding the charts at the moment like a spillage in a dairylea factory. The Brother's vocals are so similar the audience resembled a tennis crowd at times, as there heads flitted watching one side of the stage and then the other in order to try and figure out who was singing. A variety of material from albums like 'Mas Cambios' and 'Turn Of The Light' was utilised in a quirky set and glancing around the room, although I do not profess to be a mind reader, I don't think that any of the crowd were thinking "I'd rather be at Glastonbury watching Oasis now."
Gigs
- Sat 13th Dec 2008
- Sun 14th Dec 2008
- Mon 15th Dec 2008
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