Live Review

Ice Black Birds – Koko, London

• 5th May 2011

Ice Black Birds played Club NME to audience who were up for that little bit more than just the Beast Coast gig earlier that evening, and trying to blank out the eventuality of the uncomfortable night bus back home. Club NME is always a decent night out on Friday for those who do not want to brave the R’n’B and Smirnoff Ice night that is Leicester Square. There was even a DJ set with a slightly electro version of Neil Young. Hats doffed to whoever was slaving over a hot iMac.

Emerging quite late, at that time that you are prising your eyes open with cocktail sticks, Ice Black Birds put on a decent set. They are firmly in the indie section of the shop, a lead with a good deal of charisma squirming around the stage. They seem to combine a funky side to your conventional indie sound, a bit early Rolling Stones with some of the guitar sounding more like a minimalist version of the Maccabees.  

With the lead jumping around, rushing towards the crowd, to the annoyance of a moody bouncer, the Brighton based band got the feet moving of the packed crowd who were just getting readjusted from the very weird performance of Dimbleby and Capper. Not as the name implies, some sort of homage to the Question Time presenter, the band came along with an assemblage of period dressed dancers that thankfully distracted the audience’s attention from the average music.

But back to the headliners, Ears To The Ground gives you a Churchill-the-dog-like head nodding head that blends quite a funky base with a catchy riff and a odd little harmonised a cappella for a middle 8, and other songs worked around similar areas, with a solid geek-rock riff and the stage hogging lead. All in all, not a bad late night, post work, pre-sleep gig!