The Dirty Robbers @ The Vine
By Sean Gledhill
A generous crowd packed into The Vine on a hot, sweaty and very eclectic night. Though competing with The Blueskins playing at The Cockpit, and the perpetually popular Big Brother finale, tonight's gig was well attended and another success for the team at The Vine - a venue that has fast stamped its foot on the Leeds scene and continues to showcase some of Leeds', and as it turned out tonight, the UK's, best unsigned talent.
First up was Jordan Senior, he timidly sat onstage with his guitar and harmonica and opened up his set nervously. It must be difficult for any solo act to walk onstage at 8pm when the venue is scattered with what I can only describe as "undesirables" that you wouldn't normally expect to see in the Vine after 6pm, but Jordan dealt with it faultlessly and delivered a pitch and note perfect 30 minute set.
It was only when delivering new song "19 Stone's A Lot To Weigh" that Jordan began to really parade his vocal talent, songs like this as well as "True" and, the finishing gem in the set, "Sesame Street" really pleased the responsive crowd that had built up steadily during the time Jordan was on stage.
Jordan Senior is a competent musician playing well-written blues / acoustic songs, no doubt about that at all. However, and I use this term lightly, the only criticism I would have is that his music could sometimes benefit from the use of additional musicians.
But on the whole he delivered a crowd pleasing and musically professional set, nothing could warm the crowd up to what they'd see next, but he'd done more than enough to warrant a warm & appreciative response.
I chose to review this gig on the strength of the reputation of The Hellset Orchestra, a friend saw them in their home city of Nottingham and thought them to be one of the most amazing things he'd seen live. After having seen them myself I would stake my reputation on you loving this band, no matter what your musical cup of tea is, however - with this being my first review here I don't believe I have a reputation, but trust me, I'll have one once you see this band - I couldn't recommend them any more to you. I should hope that the packed crowd there last night would agree, as I looked round I saw smiling faces that were nodding in admiration, and I even heard a shout or three for an encore before they'd even finished, leaving it impossible for the next band to improve on what had been happening before them onstage.
The Hellset Orchestra are a set of misfits, dressed up in misfit outfits. An eight piece band compromising of a string quartet, drums, bass, samples and a vocalist on a Hammond organ - walking onstage you wouldn't expect them to produce a sound familiar to Sparks but still unique in some unfathomable manner. They're scary and they'll rudely force feed their wall of sound to you, but they still leave you charmed and thankful that you've just tasted something so utterly disgustingly delicious that you want more, and God did the crowd want more!
Stand out song in the set was "Thank God it's Judas" which featured the bass player rocking out and creating an image not unlike Johnny Greenwood, the frontman leaving his organ and dancing convulsively on stage and on the bass drum (to the admiration of the crowd), it was all too much to take in. There was so much going on yet every part of the structure stood up and fitted perfectly.
The best introduction to a song was when they played a sample of the theme to The Magic Roundabout, and the singer asked "Has anyone got a trapeze... where you can play your skills... to The Church of Death" - but said with such comic irony... I could go on for hours.
The Hellset Orchestra are the most amazing unsigned band I have seen live for years, to liken them to a Leeds band I would have to say that they would be the evil-twin of Dino Casino and The International Playboys of Swing. To see those two bands on the same bill would be an amazing night... someone needs to sort that one out.
This band are a must-see, I think the organisers of the night at The Vine would recommend them to anyone, because it can't be long before The Hellset Orchestra start to pull bigger crowds and leave venues such as this. They nervously shuffled off into the night afterwards, totally unaware that they had mesmerised a sweaty, but not yet even half full, crowd at The Vine.
Unfortunately for The Pigeon Detectives they were charged with the hardest task of the night in coming onstage next. I tried to remain partial while listening to the band but I was still buzzing from what I had seen. The Pigeon Detectives have a shockingly bad name, fact, but they also brought the biggest proportion of the crowd with them... fact. They are a well-followed band and I was unsure what to expect, one fan told me that "they sound like themselves" which worried me slightly, especially when she compared The Hellset Orchestra to The Coral!! Forgetting all this I took my place and prepared for the worst.
On reading a recent review of the detectives, I can see that the band have not progressed or taken note of the reviewer's points of view. Tonight I see a band that is still, with the exception of the lead singer, very static and apprehensive onstage despite their massive support.
The lead singer carries the bands presence with his swagger, yet is still, I feel, more comfortable with the notion of being the frontman of a band than actually singing live as at times his vocals faltered somewhat.
The overall sound of The Pigeon Detectives is obviously Brit-pop. It's a mixing tin of Oasis and Shed Seven with classic Brit-pop lyrics; and there was little banter between the lead singer and the crowd, which was surprising considering the obvious support they had.
Highlights of the set were the lead guitars, and also the short harmonica played by the lead singer - which added another dimension to the bands music that was much more enjoyable and interesting.
This band received the biggest response of the night at the end of their set; I don't feel they deserved it though. There was no unique aspect to their music; despite being tight as a unit they have little to offer promoters other than the promise of a good door fee.
Ending the night were The Dirty Robbers. Yet again, sadly, a lot of the crowd missed a very good live band after having left before the Robbers started their set.
This band looked the part, were obviously punk before they'd even switched on their amps, in particular the two guitarists who, I thought, looked very comfortable on stage. The bass player may have a condition that causes him to smile and laugh at everything (even the lead singer just playing his guitar) but that I am not sure of, so I'll leave it alone and hope he may take a leaf out of the lead singer's book of "how to look professional onstage".
This band is very tight and writes very good songs, the first two songs were reminiscent of The Hives material from Veni Vidi Vicious while still maintaining some individuality.
The third song strayed slightly from their apparent writing formula, and they performed an alternative-jangly song which was, to say the least, catchy.
The fourth song featured some excellent lead guitar and some clever and entertaining stage antics from the band, switching microphones and a lot of movement excited the crowd and, predictably and more noticeably, amused the bass player a bit too much.
The Dirty Robbers then went back into punk mode playing something not far away from the same vein as Razorlight, yet another catchy song played with 100% effort and with faultless timing.
This band was continuously impressive, professional and talented throughout the set. Unfortunately I had to leave ten minutes before the end so didn't get chance to speak to the band themselves which I would have liked to do. I'd recommend that you check out The Dirty Robbers as they are a very tight and entertaining band.
On any other night The Dirty Robbers probably would have stolen the show, but unfortunately The Hellset Orchestra still lingered in my head and, I imagine, the minds of many others who'd seen them that night, go see them as soon as you can, otherwise you'll miss something that is truly astounding... failing that you can visit their website... they look arty so I imagine they'll have one. My future reputation is on the line here.
