The evening started with Leeds band Girl Sweat. This was a set full of interesting ideas and individuality. The keyboards where played like a Jack White guitar solo which combined with the drums and the bass it reminded me of the first Horrors album.
Temples then took to the stage looking so cool that I worried they would be style over substance, I was wrong. Lead singer James Bradshaw looked like Jimmy Page dressed in Johnny Thunders clothes but his vocals and guitar playing really impressed me. The rest of the band also added to the quality of their individual and thoroughly enjoyable set. Their music seemed to be an intoxicating mix of psychedelic 70’s rock and a modern day version of a 60’s skiffle band. They finished their set with their latest single ‘Shelter Song’ which rounded of their set perfectly.
After Temples fine set the crowd were revved up and ready for Moon Duo. As they came on stage the background lit up with a projected image, something I have never seen at Brudenell before. This added something to the crowd’s excitement levels but unfortunately those levels were soon to take a huge dip. The band had become the victims of technical difficulties and it must have been incredibly technical and difficult because there was ten minutes of silence while repairs where attempted. After this pause they must have decided that they could not keep the crowd waiting any longer and continued without fixing the problem.
Once the gig started up again the crowd really got into it but you could tell that they were missing the bass now. Despite this Moon Duo did an incredibly good job of carrying on and trying to make it the best they possibly could for the audience. I’m not sure if the technical difficulties had also affected the sound levels but for the majority of the gig Ripley Johnson’s vocals were barely audible. With no bass and a hint of vocal you would expect the set to be a disaster but Ripley’s guitar playing alone really drove the gig along and got the crowd moving. As such talented and experience musicians they tried their best to give the crowd value for money and they didn’t disappoint. At times it felt like they were just jamming for our entertainment as they were so in-tune with each other. For me the highlight was ‘In The Sun’ and watching the way Sanae Yamanda moved on stage.
