A badly advertised one, this, which nearly slipped through even my highly evolved gig radar! I only found out about it thanks to The Daily Mirror, no less, and didn't know Sweet Jesus was the support band until the night before! Needless to say, I got there early this time!
Sweet Jesus were on at 9 and initially were a disappointment - all new numbers on the set, so no "Phonefreak Honey" in particular, which I was really looking forward to. D'oh! Nevertheless, I'd worn my shorts for a reason - to bop - so certainly did as Ben Bentley led the band through their all-new set with verve and style. Sporting a mane comparable only to a lion, his distinctive falsetto soared over a clutch of fine glittery pop songs and a couple of real gems in "Peter Pan Man" and "Pretty When You're Down". Great stuff!
Revolver however, were slightly disappointing; well, what I heard of them, anyway. After a couple of new numbers and a bop to "Crimson", their Teenage Fanclub-like best number by miles, I popped out for a drink and ended up having a lengthy chat with Sweet Jesus mainman Ben, who turned out to be a very interesting conversationalist! Popped back in for the tail-end of Revolver's set - a couple of newies which were quite good (I'm damning them with faint praise, I know...) - and their fine encore, "Heaven Sent An Angel". But really, in Ben Bentley, I'd already seen the star of the show tonight!
Just commented on the venus gig... now i read you saw sweet jesus!!All the SJ singles are great, i did wonder if they would of been good live... the answer is obviously yes! what a voice that ben had/has, amazing that he didnt get famous. Love to know what you two talked about! Also.,. the two songs "Peter Pan Man" and "Pretty When You're Down" are venus songs are credited to venus, so SJ were performing songs later to be recorded as Venus?
ReplyDeleteLove to know more!
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