The Support Act

It's been a couple of months since I went to see a band, and wasn't really expecting to go out this Friday night, but Moonface's ex-colleague Pete had told her that Emmy the Great was worth seeing, so we checked her music on the interweb and decided to take a chance. Since I've spent much of the last few days stuck in a hotel in Berlin I was pleased to have the excuse for a quick walk down to the Fleece.

Emmy's songs were fine, her voice tuneful and distinctive, what we could hear of it; but the production was lusy and the music just blurred into mush. When songs are poetry, the voice needs to stznd out clear, but this was just not managed so that all we heard was the standard indy guitar music. Not great.

But the support band, the Ex-Lovers, had a different ethos and a more cohesive sound so that they were just fun: loud and driving and danceable, with much of the audience jiggling around.
It just goes to reiterate the principle that the support bands are worth listening too, as they so often outshine the main act of any evening. It was true of the Concretes, it was true of Amy Lavere, it will be true many times in the future.


Overall, I'd only give the evening a mark of 60%.



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