Fossil Collective @ Sneaky Pete's Edinburgh
Gig 29: 28 May 2012
And so I may be getting a little bit obsessed with this
new found love of live music but when I got the opportunity to go to Scotland
for a couple of days there was no way that I was going to pass up the
opportunity of seeing a gig north of the border. The organisation of the trip was
ludicrous, as I had expected a full week in Edinburgh last week which came to
nothing, and today I found myself up with the lark at 5:00 sneaking around the
house so as not to wake the sleeping children and incur the wrath of Mrs P.
Then after a panicked security check in in Birmingham,
queues through to Franky and Bennies, I arrived in Edinburgh finally for my
trip, after settling in for 3 hours I was off to Glasgow, and having been there
for about three hours I was on my way back to Edinburgh. I had actually covered
planes, trains and automobiles (taxi and car) today quite comfortably by the
time the end of the working day closed and I checked in at the hotel. By this
time, having skipped lunch due to travelling the 5:00 am wake up call was
beginning to take its toll, so I cried off going out with my colleagues and
went to my room. Looking out of the window however I was confronted with the
following view, a view so amazing I would be kicking myself if I had stayed in
watching Dara O’Briain on Dave, so I tweeted the band I knew was playing in
Edinburgh, found out they were on at 9:00 and set off.
Having planned ahead for this eventuality I had google map
directions to Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh. When I got to the end of the
directions and found no venue of any sort, merely a closed cinema, I junped in
a taxi and arrived at SP’s just as the support Blank Canvas kicked off their
final track, which was a reasonable support band effort but nothing I could do
justice with for a review.
Grabbing a beer from the bar (no pumps, so a bottle of Tyskie
had to suffice) and I was leaning up against the pillar right in the middle of
this tiny venue, pretending to be engrossed in my blackberry I watched as a
couple more people entered and the band discussed whether or not to start and
at 9:20 they kicked off. When the took to the stage, suddenly I remembered why
I was keen to see these guys again having supported Ren Harvieu, not just
because they had a great range of beards, from Desperate Dan to bum fluff, not
because the drummer (or yuke player previously) player was the spitting image of Jimmy
Carr with a beard, but.....these guys had been the best support act I had seen
this year, with in particular the harmonies that they came up with being
phenomenal.
As they kicked off the gig I found I had a nice spot front
and centre with no one to block my view, which was nice given the giants from
the St Etienne gig on Saturday and within seconds of the first song it felt
like despite there being a limited crowd around I was listening to the start of
a really special band.
To give a feel for how sparse the crowd was you could
hear the pedals being changed by the band in between songs with a clear click.
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| Set List |
What can I say about the songs apart from the fact that
they sounded perfectly formed without the band having released a note, great
harmonies coming from the lead singer, drummer (Jonny who had escaped the yuke)
and keyboard player (resplendent in bowler hat) meant that every song was stand
out. There was a nice mix up when the set list, helpfully written out in
Italian by the Italian contingent of the band, was misconstrued, and again it
all added to the warmth of the gig. If I was pushed I would put the band close
to Doves, but with better harmonies, the fun and warmth of Doves shines through,
similarly for Elbow when they aren’t being too serious in their songs. The
single that’s due out in June, possibly called let it go wrapped up the set,
and has been a staple on the ipod (sorry but taped off myspace) since seeing
them support Ren, and the choice of cover was interesting and a great take on
Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s ‘The Power of Love’ – hopefully also to get an
official airing.
The one thing that was slightly surreal was the
announcement by the band that it
was their first gig in Edinburgh, and thanks for coming (no surprises so far)
followed by, ‘Particularly these 2 at the front who have made the journey from
Birmingham’ Aldridge we then found out specifically, and the guitarists from
Hall Green. Armed with this knowledge of a Brum massive in the house, I felt I
ought to make myself known at the end of the gig, and fuelled with a number of
Tyskie’s I managed to avoid the ‘I love you I do’ initial gambit, to find out
that this bands talent seems to have them on a great upward trajectory, with some live radio potentially
to come and play listing. Plus getting the band to sign a Tote bag (where would
we be without Tote Bags) and embarrassing myself when stating to the Italian
member of the band that he didn’t sound Italian after he said 2 words to me
followed by a few sentences of pure Italian accent to make me smile sheepishly.
I left Tote Bag clutched in hand, warm Tyskie glow Reddie
Brek like around me wondering whether I would be able to get Mrs P to come
along to the free show at the Yard Bird in Birmingham, touch and go it will be,
but as the drum playing Jimmy Carr impersonator is from Middlesbro,
anything is possible.
Happy Days.
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