Ooberman @ New Roscoe
By Nik Keefe
Cleverly deciding I was going to go to this at the last minute, I made it to the Roscoe just in time to find Beautiful Feet sitting down with their drinks and having a few pats on the back. Smart. They covered this gig for Bodixa who pulled out last minute, and were forced to do an acoustic set through lack of band members. Rich from the band told me they'd found it tough and that his drumming had been dodgy in a couple of places...but the audience would seem to disagree because a whip-round of general opinion found that this was an excellent intimate performance and in no way a blotch on their record. In fact the drummer from Bodixa, who'd slyly snuck in looking shamed, said he thought Rich was superb and it was the best he'd seen the Feet. Musical modesty? Or realism? I'll never know... sorry...
A small venue and restricted PA system can be a great leveller for a big band on a comeback. For the first few tracks of Ooberman's set I thought they were better than most local bands I can see around Leeds, but not by a country mile. I was wrong. Once they got going, and there's no doubt they found the small stage and audience a little disconcerting, they did manage to capture the crowd and take us into their strange hashed-up world of childhood dreams and flowers and fairies. Sophia was resplendent (if a little over dressed - corset and sheer combination in purple... very nouveua Jane Austen) as she slipped from keys to just singing - although I later realised this was just because singer Danny was a better pianist - and Jaymie never missed a beat on the drums. A little more movement from the other two wouldn't have gone amiss though... the carpet in their corner must have had a really interesting pattern to hold their attention all evening...
All the important songs were here - Blossoms Falling, Million Suns and Shorley Wall all taking us back to summers past. What struck me most about them was as they went on the sound seemed to 'grow'. By the time they finished, they WERE a big band on a wide stage again, with hundreds of enraptured fans. Only when they walked off through the bar to the Roscoe kitchen/dressing room for the night did we remember we were still in a half empty pub near the Sheepscar interchange.
Danny sang and played guitar, keys and even some insane Russian folk violin and still found time to conduct the rest of the band like some insane mad professor orchestrating his latest invention. The songs were simple, occasionally quite limited ("bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong") but it was their Wannadies crossed with pot style that won us over.
Which brings me to my conclusion. If Beautiful Feet are to 'make it' as they are now, it will be on the strength of their songs and performances first, like a Coldplay or an Elbow. On the other hand, if Ooberman are to again scale the heights of NME and Lamacq stardom they won't do it on their clever technical musicianship (though they do have plenty of that too) but on their endearing charm and very genuine sparkle in their songs, both live and on record. In short, two bands here tonight who are a cut above the rest, but I get the impression Ooberman have had their time and now it's the Feet's turn to have a crack.
