7 Days, 7 Venues
- Grace Patey
- Oct 31, 2017
- 4 min read
With four gigs and Ritual Union festival, we've had a pretty mad week. So here's a round up of the best bands we've seen:
1. The Night Café @ The Boileroom GU:
A bit different to my usual, these are some very happy chaps and it felt more like an all singing all dancing party than a gig. Their songs are catchy and caused quite the ruckus towards the end but it's their personalities and the vibes they bring that really do it for me. It was their first time in Guildford so the crowd was fresh and packed with energy. Hopefully our favourite Liverpudlians will come back down south for us again sometime soon.
2. Vinyl Staircase @ Purple Turtle RG:
First things first, as much as we so dearly love Purple Turtle, this stage isn't big enough for them. These boys are destined for something massive. A synth induced meditative state took us up and down a very loud wave that we wouldn't have minded drowning in there and then. They've got the layering right, they've got the look right, and you can't not be content whilst they serenade you. I want more, I need more.
3. Wild Front @ The Facebar RG:
Wild Front were guests at Valeras Presents #3 and with previous line ups including Vinyl Staircase and Drug Store Romeos, we could trust Valeras to pick another great band and they really delivered with these guys. Wild Front have a vibrant laid back sound with a dynamic attitude, definitely not another generic indie band to get lost in the sea of averageness - although I would note that as always recordings are deceiving and they pack a bigger punch on stage with the hip hop influences shining a lot truer.
4. Valeras @ The Facebar RG:
We obviously couldn't mention their guests without the legends themselves. Although they were a lot tighter at their recent gig in Purple Turtle, this was by far the most fun I've had at a gig in a long time. Whilst Valeras are on a massive spiral onwards and upwards, their own nights Valeras Presents still draw in a very close knit crowd and it truly feels like returning home. The crowd were most definitely loving it and we were getting delightfully pushed about everywhere. I truly and wholeheartedly recommend you get down to Valeras Presents #4.
5. Van Zeller @ The Library OX:
They've infested the south and you sure can spot that ginger tash in any pit in the London/Oxford/Bristol region. This band truly are everywhere and with good reason. They're as much lovers of attending gigs as putting them on and it was wonderful to see them strutting their Elvis swagger loud and proud once more.
6. Flamingods @ The Bullingdon OX:
We turned up at Flamingods' set on a whim and we were delighted when we entered the vibey vibey scenes. The only way I could describe them is an immaculate conception of African beats and Middle Eastern instruments balls deep in psychedelia. There were, at times, little hints of Swim Deep but on a rip roaring journey around the globe with one of their magical exotic instruments being the focal point for a solid ten minutes. Very glad we discovered these colourful beings, if not a little annoyed we didn't sooner.
7. Trudy and the Romance @ The Library OX:
Absolute blissness. This fabled foursome took us on a journey around the entirety of their sorrowful minds in all of their nine songs. Newest release Twist It Shake It Rock & Roll made an appearance which changed up the sound with more focus on the backing vocals and the edition of Wild sent the crowd into a spiralling frenzy of elation in its rawest form six songs down to finally leave us yet again in a hazy euphoric state with He Sings. We can't believe it's taken us this long to make it down to a Trudy set and we need to make up for lost time ASAP.
8. Peace @ O2 Academy OX:
We were lucky enough to not only witness the all famous 1998 but to be graced with its presence in a relatively small venue in Oxford - for the very last time. One note in and we were all ready to nose dive into euphoria, that is if you weren't there already, and we just propelled deeper and deeper into the nirvana. Although it will be sad to let "98 retire, we do feel honoured to have experienced it and it did make that 2nd drop that little bit more exciting even if they did decide to laugh their way through it.
9. HMLTD @ The Electric Ballroom Camden:
And finally, this list would not be complete without the beauty and brains of our favourite glam rock bondage goths, HMLTD. The band alone are a sight to see but the Louise Bourgeois inspired floating leg contraptions and sea of white masks coated in blood made us really descend into their hellish captivity. Although the after party was a shambles, the fact that they opened the stage with an army of naked people gave us enough weird an wonderful to be content with for the time being.
Photo courtesy of Elena Costa.
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