the go! team - live
Sunday Feb 20th 2005. Bristol Fleece
what a wild show.
having loved the Go! Team album for the last 12 months i had no idea what to expect. after all .. how do you flesh out a lo-fi sampledelica album that only just breaks 30 minutes ?
answer : pad out with multiple supports.
first support were from a bunch of "welsh farmers" (their words not mine) called Attack and Defend .. kinda like SFA meets EMF .. all mad and dancey .. but with some cracking tunes .. i have never seen a band look so obviously amazed that they were allowed up on the stage .. cool.
followed by the Pipettes .. 60's doo-wop vs indie power pop .. all fronted by 3 rather swoonsome girls doing some classic sweep pop harmonies and dance moves. cheeky words and easy to pick up melodies made this a fine way to get the crowd in the mood. just a shame some b*stard had nicked one of the girls on-stage uniform.
then came DJ Scotch Egg.
the japanese noise machine. he begrudgingly walks on stage all by himself, plays with something that looks like a Gameboy - which then proceeds to make blistering gabba gabba techno screechy noises for 15 mins while the man screams 'K-F-C' and 'F*CK YOUUUUUUU' constantly, as he wildly jumps about on stage, throwing things at the ever increasingly wound up crowd. interesting. and somewhat jarring in comparison the the last 60 minutes of pop entertainment.
investigations lead me to find out the man is on the bands best mates. ahhh. nepotism is alive and well in rock and roll. then we were onto the main event.
if you have the album then you think you are prepared ! ha.
starting off with massive noise/feedback/layered guitars/Sonic Youth stylings the band obviously are not going to be a quiet, easy on the ears proposition. adding to the equation Ninja .. the pintsized power driven vocals with her hip hop standard pantomime rants and raves, dual girl drummers keeping the rhythm tight and funky, and more loops and fun than you can handle in 30 minutes. the show was sheer multicoloured non-stop fun. all the classics were revealed in their fleshed out live form, adding a lot more bass whoomp than is present on the recorded versions, along with more vocals, which are added for crowd participation. oh, and the recorder solos are ever present and correct !
i shouted along, i raised my arms (like i just didn't care), and i thoroughly let myself go along with the party vibes.
word tells me they will become a solid fixture on the forthcoming festival season. catch'em as the sun sets and your world will become somewhat better.
go ? bloody chuffed to bits i did, that's for sure ..
memphis industries - including more go! team stuff.
link - official website