Had a quick jaunt down the M4 in a jam-packed car, hitting the venue at 8.15. We were anticipating a big early-doors crowd for this one, but got it woefully wrong, so ended up hanging around for 1 1/4 hours for some rock, as the venue oh-so slowly filled up! D'oh!
First band on, The Slingbacks; led by cerise-haired and vivacious vocalist Shireen, they kick-started their set with a vengeance, with effervescent, rip-roaringly stonking new single "No Way Down". I became a one-man moshpit for that one, no mistake! Despite fears to the contrary after such a terrific start, quality control was maintained with a thrilling but all-too-short 7 song set, full of chunky riffs, harmony and fizzing pop tunes. The Ramones-esque surf pop of The Muffs, and the Blondie-esque melody of Eve's Plum were obvious reference points from this rather stupendous set, so no surprise to find out, during a post-set discussion with Shireen, that Eve's Plum and The Muffs are high on the list of The Slingbacks' faves!
After that start, Joyrider were on a bit of a sticky wicket, but put together a rather storming set of compulsive guitar rock themselves, during which I piled into the mosh on occasions. I really enjoyed their set, actually, particularly the vicious "Said She To me", with shades of Therapy?, Husker Du and even Thin Lizzy in their guitar-driven hard rock. However, I felt that their "hit" single, their nevertheless brilliant cover of Jane Wiedlin's "Rush Hour" (which was delivered with some power and pace tonight) is already proving a bit of a millstone around their necks. "Some people think (it) was our first single," lamented their vocalist.
It'll be interesting to see how Joyrider follow this up. In the meantime, The Slingbacks shaded this nevertheless superb double-header for me tonight!
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