Live Review
Concrete & Glass – Shoreditch, London
Shoreditch is fast becoming London’s most active underground cultural hub. This was the first year of Concrete & Glass, joining London Airways and 1-2-3-4 as the latest and potentially greatest music event in Shoreditch. A music and art event scattered around any brushed bar or perfectly tattered space available in the lanes and squares of Shoreditch. Year dot for Concrete & Glass was a truly mixed bag, but despite teething problems no-one was arguing with such a packed line-up of new bands; if anything it was the bill that was causing the chaos.
Thursday was the first and lower-key evening of the two days. With a last minute Cats In Paris cancellation we took up residence in the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen for an evening with three hotly tipped acts from Glasgow and New York via California. Frightened Rabbit appear to be riding on Glasvegas’ dark cloud as Scotland’s latest export failed to live up to their big online billing. At times the four piece blended together into a pedestrian drone but did manage some beautiful moments with primeval regional howling and uplifting guitars saving their set, if not their future. Similarly samey were Bodies Of Water, who stand and deliver three stark vocals, led by the maverick Meredith. Perhaps too close to Arcade Fire – with their dirty scales, back and forth vocal melodrama and an array of alt-folk instruments – to win acclaim, they nevertheless mixed hints of gospel, tropicalia and prog, which could open a new path. O’Death headlined and produced the first truly memorable turn. Minds instantly race towards the drunken bar-room brawl knees-up and vocal shredding of Murder By Death, Tom Waits and Two Gallants. Massive in their own right, they had the sweaty Kitchen all a hoe-down. If there is ever to be a Deadwood feature film then let this band crank out the soundtrack to Al Swearengen’s frontier blood-bath. Viva O’Death.
Friday could have been an absolute classic. It went down as a dissapointment, mainly due to the madly optimistic decision to skip Lykke Li and attempt to gain entry to the TV On The Radio show at the tiny Cargo. Having had to move from the original outdoor venue, due to noise restrictions, only a few hundred lucky ones made it inside for what must have been a legendary show from the creators of modern classics ‘Return to Cookie Mountain’ and latest ‘Dear Science’. Hours before the show the queue stretched way down the street and so the night finished, as a bad turn took us away and upstairs, with what seemed like an awful time warped nightmare that has Selfish Cunt shouting hot air endlessly and without any kind of talent. The stunning performance of the two days, that we were able to witness, came from Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums – pictured by Ben Rimmer. So lacking in pretension and reliant on the most stripped backing, W&P let the mystic mood and their perfectly crafted areas of expertise envelope the ever growing crowd. Mariam Wallentin is the star of the show, in Bjork territory both vocally and in her madness. All eye’s are transfixed as she beautifully quivers, chants, whispers and yelps over the massive pagan drums beating, heart like, behind. While on record these Scandinavians are a little difficult to attune to, live they make wondrous, perfect sense. The Threatmantics had earlier proven to be Wales’ most interesting new band. The male three-piece’s crazed violin, menacing electro beat and the lunacy of the dusty south vocal on the brilliant ‘Don’t Care’ would force even Mariam to double-take.
Ending on a low will inevitably blacken many memories of such a vibrant and interesting event. And for that C&G feel bad. With such a promising start, however, most will return and tickets surely won’t be hanging around come the rough and smooth days of 2009.