Gig notes diary 2010

Our diary of short reports, notes and reflections on gigs that took place in Leicester and the bands that played at them

Gig Notes 2009 | Reviews of visiting bands

Wednesday 24th February, the Shed

A Silver Bullet night run along the lines of a competition with voting by the audience.

These were the bands that played

The Cuts

The Arommatics

Raptor Captor

Silent Resistence

The guest, headline band was IzIggy, the IggyPop tribute band.

The night was won by Silent Resistence, who polled 25 votes (as counted by Shed staff). The Arommatics came second (17 votes) and Raptor Captor secured 9 votes.

Thursday 21st January, the Shed

Shelly Soljaz

Headlining a good night at the Shed was Loughborough's hip hop/rap group Shelly Soljaz. I saw them first on 4th December when they played in a pub. It was great fun and I really enjoyed what they did. Now, seeing them again on a full sound stage at the Shed, I was amazed at how good this act is; they are now a top class group with an awesome set of songs and a top class stage performance. As they played through their set I thought 'this could be something big big - these guys are good enough to really get somewhere.'

Even though hip hop is not my first love, musically, I have to say I enjoyed what they did big time. I got that feeling that I was in the presence of a seriously worthy group of artists who feel like a professional act.

The night was this week's grand final of the Winner Takes All on-going band competition. It was actually won by Leicester band Wicked Messengers, who put on a stormingly good set of their own songs, led by intensly fine vocals of Mojo Robey. Here is a band that has forged ahead, created a fresh sound for itself and fizzingly good set that they performed with an admirable level of skill and commmitment. Having seen them a few times now, I have to say, these guys really rock.

I was so glad I didn't have to judge this night because I really would have struggled. The opening set by Nemasis - ultra fast rapping - shows what newbie acts can achieve in a relatively short space of time. Even the indie dudes were saying how much they liked it. Grimecore rap is an acquired taste but Nemasis have proved they have mastered the genre.

I also liked The Variables with their class act lead vocalist Bob Jones and their set of attractive and likeable Blink 182 Sum 41 happy dancy pop punk songs. Tightly played and exhuberantly performed, it was a well good set from the trio.

Saturday 3rd January, the Shed

Leicester's youngest band - My Kid Bother- kicked the show off to a great start with their amazing set of nu-punk songs.

Rising stars of the young indie scene, Kicking Habits played a tightly constructed set of their own songs and a couple of covers

This Fallen Empire pulled out the stops for a set of their melodic rock songs

The evening was brought to a resounding finale with Drive By Disco's set of infectious dance songs.