30 April 2010 (gig)
09 May 2010
Tonight, Old Jock Radio made its first venture into hosting a live show and it was clear from early on that it was going to be a packed affair. The Buff Club was bustling and buzzing by the time the first act took to the stage and the expectation was on The Girobabies who were launching their `Social Not Working` E.P
The opening act was Keith Douglas (www.keithdouglasmusic.com) who had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He was a class act who oozed confidence and seemed in his element. His voice was exceptional and his guitar playing was something to be in awe of. He blended blues and country with the highlight being the wonderful `Scrapheap Rag` which showed his passion for music and made the crowd hang off every note.
Next up was surf punk rockers `Diddums` ( http://www.myspace.com/diddumsmusic ) who were playing only their second ever live gig. Not that you`de know this by the tight performance or by the crowd reaction. `Fools Paradise` was my personel favourite. They seemed confident yet never cocky and the dry wit of the frontmans lyrics worked well alongside the catchy familar sounding noise created by a band who seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere.
It was at this point I noticed that the sound engineer was located behind the stage and he must take a lot of credit for making everything tick along nicely depsite the fact he had made a makeshift sound-desk out of a DJ booth.
It was headliner time and the place nearly erupted as the enigmatic Keith Phillips (Compere for the OJR night) introduced The Girobabies (http://www.myspace.com/thegirobabies) who launched into the eerie and raucous 'Backlash' and got the party in full swing. They played a cut-throat temp through most of the set throughout the set with songs made up mosty from the new E.P. such as `What Could Go Wrong?` and 'Bank Charge'. The latter speaks up for anyone who's been turned over by our selfish banking system and the misery it can bring, However the crowd lapped it up had everyone bouncing and chanting in blissful unison . Another highlight from the night was 'Stalker Drama' a very well constructed piece of music in which the whole band really play to their strengths notably the crashing drums as the song went from melodic floyd to grungey punk in a few enthralling seconds .
There was some good crowd interaction inbetween songs to allow everyone to catch their breath. It's also worthwhile to mention 'Nightmare' which starts of very gently, lulling the listener into a false sense of security before arriving to a pulsating crescendo, there was more than a fair share of heads nodding to that one but it was an older track called `The Giros` which seemed to cause more mayhem in the moshpit and lead the band nicely onto closing the curtains on an immensly entertaing night with the instantly recognisable 'Jeremy Kyle' As soon as the bass-line kicked in the whole crowd were bouncing like pogos and and singing the song back word for word. This seemed to be the fans favourite on the night and they left the `stage` ignoring chants for `One more tune` . I did attempt to buy a CD but they had already sold out. A sure sign of a suiccesful night. Apart from the occasional technical hitch they seem to have a lot of potential and some real star quality.
All in all a great night for Old Jock Radio and proved that the Buff Club can be a great venue for gigs. Its the first one Ive been to but hopefully wont be too long till I catch another one there and will definitely be tuning into the online radio show when I can on (http://www.oldjockradio.com) live every Thursday night 9pm.
