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introThe Library, Leeds, UK
29th August 2014
Zeitgeist Zero

Leeds based ZEITGEIST ZERO have a big black boot in so many different musical and visual camps, you’d think confusion would have set in. In reality they perfectly manage to inhabit their own carefully constructed and intriguingly strange, darkly glamorous world. This is a place where electro-goth, fuzzed up psychobilly and a dance driven classic rock ‘n roll bed down with a seedy art-house eroticism, jazz-era glamour and a knowing cheekiness. Their recorded output is impressively assured, genre-stretching and playful, but it’s in the live arena where the band really explode into vibrant existence. Because they don’t do gigs. Most definitely not. They put on a show. https://www.facebook.com/ZeitgeistZero / http://www.zeitgeistzero.com/


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Music & Performance
There’s no messing about here. Once ‘When The Lights Go Down’ kicks things off, stomping and swaggering about like a big, bad, aural bully, the band, and vocalist Teresa in particular, has the absolute attention of the room. When the crowd are told to move closer to the stage, there’s really no choice, and the self-conscious shuffle forward feels like a mass surge to the naughty-step. ‘Party For One’ follows, a perfectly-formed, irresistible pop-monster, hugely infectious and delivered with a confidence that only adds to the appeal. And the band look stunning. Teresa, all 1920’s decadence, with the moves, facial expressions and seductiveness of a menacing femme fatale, makes the stage her playground, and she seems to relish every second of the hour long set.

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Corin, on guitars, has the cocky look of a circus ring-leader, part spiv, part gangster, and behind him on keyboards is James, similarly attired and lost in reverie. Bex, on bass, is gracefully threatening, with a smile that could kill and a cool arrogance that absolutely belongs in the ZEITGEIST ZERO gang. And disgracefully young drummer Matt is a phenomenal asset, straining at the leash at times, his barely restrained percussion is extremely impressive. There’s no let-up in the set, and it’s well constructed. ‘Big Bad Wolf’ has all the drive and scuzzy bounce of B52’s, whereas the lazy drawl of ‘It’s Not Easy Being Strange’ is in complete contrast. On ‘Dance Of The Fallen’, even the bar-staff are bouncing up and down, this unsettlingly spooky, beaty powerhaus the perfect set-closer. And during a much deserved encore, the band deliver one more punch with the brilliant ‘Beasts Under My Bed’.

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ZEITGEIST ZERO then, a phenomenally special band. A band who know how to put on a spectacular show. And there’s no question everyone wants more. But then like all good teasing, knowing when to stop is half the fun.

Setlist
01. When The Lights Go Down
02. Party For One
03. Grudge
04. Unlucky 13
05. Heart To Black
06. Domestic Blitz
07. Big Bad Wolf
08. It’s Not Easy Being Strange
09. Hyde
10. Pushed To The Edge
11. United In Black
12. Dance Of The Fallen
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13. Beasts Under My Bed

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 7
Total 8.7 / 10

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All pictures by Stephen Kennedy


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