We need the Shepherd's Bush Empire tonight. Why? Certain bands need a
certain type of venue to broadcast in a way befitting of their ability.
Corinne Bailey Rae has got it tonight so I won't argue with that, but
tonight's bands do suffer nonetheless.
Leeds quartet This Et Al are being heavily tipped for greatness but you
wouldn't think so tonight. Frontman Wu Et Al (don't ask) and drummer Steve
Et Al (you can see where this is going) are sporting red shirts and black
ties while Gav and Ben sport the reverse. Wu looks quite a state, sweaty and
perhaps a little inebriated. Their druggy punk sounds abrasive and is
delivered with like an open can of nerves, far flung from their swaggery,
cocksure studio material. Still, the likes of Sabbatical and the Joy
Division-esque Wardens eventually warm the room.
There is always a wonderfully DIY moment in the build up to a Pretty
Girls Make Graves gig where they look at each other half confused as if
wondering when to start or what to do next. They do exactly the same
tonight, having been preceded by an extra dramatic twist in the A Clockwork
Orange theme playing as their intro tape. There is nothing menacing about
the band tonight.
They shift from benign to hearty to intense in the space of a couple of
verses. With Élan Vital barely a day old in Europe they proudly plough into
the hedonistic Nocturnal House . Surprisingly, the new material is reserved
to a modest minimum. Much of the evening draws from the New Romance, the
title track dropped very early on along with a hymnal This Is Our
Emergency.
New keyboardist Leona Marrs has already won herself a male fan club with
her striking looks. The accordion, keyboards, maracas and recorder all add
more balance to the band live, as well as in studio. Her cohort Andrea Zollo
is the usual whirlwind of enchantment and energy, fist ever clenched and
ever raised, jet black hair a drenched mess masking her face.
Jaws dropped with the presence of two drum kits onstage. To some
disappointment it was only utilised for Parade where Jay Clark put down his
guitar for a complimentary part to Nick Dewitt, who in turn dropped his
sticks and assumed bass duty for Pictures of A Night Scene. With Derek
Fudesco on lead, the big man for once restrained himself from his hulking
contortions and turned in an atmospheric duet with Zollo.
In a venue with acoustics far more suited to the sounds of glass, guitars
and gobbing, PGMG were doomed by their own big sound. One gets the feeling
however, it might be just big enough to get them out of these sorts of places this
time round.