Sputnikhalle, Münster, Germany9th November 2014
Blood Red Shoes & Tigercub
British band BLOOD RED SHOES celebrated their last German concert in my home town Münster. Perfect possibility for me to use this Sunday evening to check the band out again after seeing them some years ago at Area4 Festival.
Tigercub
TIGERCUB from Brighton, UK, have released their debut single ‘Blue Blood’ on Raygun Records on 5th May 2014. It is available as limited blue 7” vinyl with individually screen-printed cover. The band is fronted by 7 foot tall Jamie Hall. Their sound draws influences from such iconic bands as PIXIES, NIRVANA or SONIC YOUTH. Following up their debut single is the single release of ‘Centrefold’, being produced by Tom Dalgety. It is released on digital download and strictly limited 500-pressing vinyl and marks the first release on the new label Jazz Life which has been started by fellow Brighton band BLOOD RED SHOES. And now, you have the connection, why TIGERCUB were taking over the support slot on that tour. http://tigercubtigercub.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/tigercubtigercub
Music & Performance
Before the trio started, the hall still looked quite empty. But luckily, a good handful of people gathered in front of the stage to check out the support act. Speaking of the stage… at was already packed with the drum kit of the headliner. And so, TIGERCUP had very limited space on one side of stage. One of the microphone stands was already hinting on the huge size of singer Jamie… and when he finally stood on stage, I just stared at him with big eyes. He was really tall. But as for his performance, he was rather restrained on stage. Not so the bassist, who was really vivid, playing while kneeling on the floor or also when standing on the bass drum. The set was with thirty minutes rather short, but of course presented both released singles. All in all, the band warmed up the audience well.
Setlist
01. I am Special
02. Sauerkraut
03. Get a Job
04. Too High
05. Trend
06. Little Rope
07. Centrefold
08. Blue Blood
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 5
Total: 6.5 / 10
Blood Red Shoes
Since its inception in 2005, the BLOOD RED SHOES have released 8 singles and played 300 live gigs, including shows at NME New Music Tour 2007 or at the Electric Gardens festival. According to vocalist and guitar player Laura-Mary Carter, the band’s name was taken from a Ginger Rogers / Fred Astaire musical, in which Ginger Rogers had turned a pair of white dancing shoes red with blood because she had been practicing dancing so much in them. ‘Box of Secrets’, the band’s debut, saw the light of day in April 2008, hitting the UK Album Chart on position 47. 'Fire Like This' followed it up in 2010. So far, the band released four studio albums with ‘Blood Red Shoes’ being the latest one, out in March 2014. BLOOD RED SHOES are Steven Ansell (vocals and drums) and Laura-Mary Carter (vocals and guitar). http://www.bloodredshoes.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/bloodredshoes
Music & Performance
Finally, when the band started at 21:00, the hall was well-filled. But far from packed. There was not much to do before to set up the stage since the drum set was already built up. The break was more or less used to get the TIGERCUB stuff from stage. The stage decoration was sparse and kind of vintage, just with big light bulbs in front of a red curtain in the back. Also, the illumination alter would be sparse, red and blue mainly, with lots of strobe and fast moving lights and some smoke. In my opinion, the over-extensive use of strobe lights was a little too much. If you haven’t seen the band before you might wonder who those two persons on stage unleash enough power for an alternative band. But maybe the drum setup give you a hint. And right from the start, there was a lot of movement within the audience, people were jumping around a lot, at least directly in front of the stage. While Laura-Mary accompanied her singing with guitar play (what is rather common), I'm still amazed by how Steven Ansell handles drumming and vocal duties at the same time.
Both artists could convince with a very good vocal performance. So it was a little sad that the sound was not optimal, there were some reverbs and it was a little dull from time to time. The set itself presented not only songs from the latest album, but also some stuff, as the band stated, that was never being played live before. Nice surprise! ‘Colours Fade’ was announced as last song, but of course the band returned for some encores. All in all, this was surely a wonderful concert and a good way to spent a Sunday evening.
Setlist
01. Welcome Home
02. I Wish I Was Someone Better
03. Don't Ask
04. Lost Kids
05. It Is Happening
06. Speech Coma
07. Everything All At Once
08. The Silence and the Drones
09. Cold
10. The Perfect Mess
11. Red River
12. Cigarettes In The Dark
13. Far Away
14. This Is Not for You
15. Heartsink
16. Light It Up
17. Colours Fade
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18. Black Distractions
19. An Animal
20. Je Me Perds
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 5
Total: 7 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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