Saturday 21st June 2014 ∏
Summer Solstice Night at The Shed
While it was all happening in Victoria Park, I dropped into The Shed to catch some bands. Yes – to listen to some bands and not because I was thirsty – no definitely not because I was lured in to the bar for a pint or two of the amber nectar.
Nights at The Shed can be musically rewarding and tonight there were two stage-fulls of bands and singers to chose from. Having two lots of music on the go is both a blessing (you get more to choose from) and a curse (you have to be in two places at once.) As quite a lot of the regulars, who might go to this venue on a Saturday night, were about two miles away, the audience was somewhat thin on the floor.
Not to worry, the musicians did their thing and there was plenty of good sounds to fill the ears of those who didn’t or couldn’t embrace the Kasabian thing. Naturally there were conversations going on about a certain local band having started life at The Shed – a subject on which I like to expostulate. “We are pumped to be playing on the same stage as Kasabian” one musician opined to me. I’ll come back to that later but let me get on with the business in hand.
In the lower bar, Superfake presented an enjoyable set of songs. The four-piece group is from the Kegworth area. Vocals from Emily Crane and Matt Angrave, pretty good, and an engaging set of songs went down well with the people in front of them.
You can see photos of Superfake performing at The Shed on the band’s Facebook page.
The band also has a presence on Myspace, where some of their tunes can be heard.
On the main stage Savannah presented a set of their own songs. Well performed, bouncy and vibrant, the quartet from Telford were playing at The Shed for the first time. With good vocals from the lead singer and an attractive set of covers to go with their own work – e.g. the Beatles Come Together – it was a workmanlike half hour of pleasantly enjoyable music.
Savannah UK on Facebook | and Soundcloud
Something different is usually welcome and the set by Check da Cone certainly was. The four-piece band from Gloucester gave us a set of cocktails that was inventive, mixing idioms such as dub, reggae, ska and metal, into an intoxicating beverage of musical delights. The band’s ‘out-of-the-box’ offering of aural artwork grew on me; the more I listened, the more I liked. A band that has carved out for itself a particularly engaging niche in the musical quarry. For those who like ‘alt’, this would be a band to make a bee-line for.
On the band’s Facebook someone wrote ‘There dawned a sense of futility, as all conventional measures of achievement meant nothing anymore, no longer could I trust what I held to be true. Yet, in a way, this was my birth. My opportunity to walk into real freedom. ‘ Well said, given what we heard tonight. The tightly constructed songs and ear-licking chords, driven along with compelling rhythms, made this a set most interesting and rewarding half hour. The defining sound for the Summer Solstice, I thought (as I headed back up to the park.) A band you would long to hear for a second time.
So, did Kasabian play at The Shed? Well, it’s not an historically validated fact, despite what Tom Meighan said on Victoria Park tonight. It is documented that Saracuse did play at The Shed in 1998 and yes this was the band whose members included the said Tom and Sergio Pizzorno. Note well: they were not called Kasabian. When Saracuse changed it’s name they did not come back and play at The Shed, as far as I can find out. Having got through this academic conversation about Leicester’s music history, a must for erstwhile authors of history such as myself, it was time to head back to the biggest gig of the decade.
Read about Kasabian’s home-coming gig.
See also:
