A fiery and eventful one again! Manchester’s own brooding dark goth-adjacent post-punk types Ist Ist are becoming a fixture on my “Dance Cards” of late, so when the tour for their recently-released 5th (!) album “Dagger” took in a date on Bristol’s splendid “Dirty Boat”, this was a “must book”! Initial listens of said album reveal a more expansive anthemic feel, with an increased prominence of 80’s sheet synth in the sound. Voluble bassist Andy Keating had indicated the intent was to write a set of songs more suited to the “live” environment, and on initial listens at least they’ve succeeded, but the proof of the pudding is, as ever, on the stage itself (to mix my metaphors somewhat). They’ve not let me down so far “live”, so let’s see…
An
early departure saw me into a sunny and busy Bristol just after 6.30 doors;
however the Thekla car park was already rammed with sun-seeking beer garden
punters’ motors, so I parked in the nearby Portwall Lane car park, hitting the
venue for a loo stop and grabbing a house left spot, a couple of rows back,
well in time for The Youth Play’s support set at 7. And glad I was of that; I’d
enjoyed their October Drift support set at The Joiners last April (gig 1,379),
but tonight was a whole other kettle of fish. From the off they were
tremendous; opener “Maybe This Was All For Us” was a breathless cascade of
tumbling drums and urgent post-punk guitar, “A Fair Life” followed with a darker,
more regimental drum powered vibe, whilst “After A Moment” added an extra
dimension to this dynamic post-punk sound, with a more introspective vibe
recalling the shimmering soundscapes of Kitchens of Distinction. Vocalist Diego
Bracho again impressed with his deep, resonant baritone, low yet expressive, although
drummer Finley Bruce just pipped him for MVP honours with a series of
propulsive, tumbling and almost tribal drum patterns; no surprise given his
Killing Joke t-shirt! “Sunday” (“our next single; about getting drunk on Sunday,”
advised Diego) was a brilliant My Vitriol like sparkling dervish hurtle, with
the spoken, stream of consciousness vocals of equally frantic closer “If We
Just Ever Were” closing out a quite superb set. A band melding various guitar
styles (grunge, post-punk, shoegaze) into a dynamically coherent whole; Youth
Play are now the real deal…
Follow that, Ist Ist! A chat with Kev, a chap I’d previously met at an October Drift gig here, passed the time until the band joined us at 9 (one minute after the p.a. had started playing “Marquee Moon”! Bah!), the undulating synth pulse of opener “Encouragement” easing us in. “We’re having technical issues; talk amongst yourselves!” announced sonorous vocalist Adam Houghton, before a pacier “Warning Signs” was followed by the more funereal, haunting “Burning” and the “Light A Bigger Fire” double salvo of the abrupt yet careering “Lost My Shadow” and regimented, Interpol-esque “The Kiss”. It all sounded fine, Adam’s voice as eerily clipped and monotone as ever, and bassist Adam Keating, leather and sunglasses firmly in place (calling out sunglass-wearing punters with a dismissive, “you can all fuck off! We should be the only ones wearing them!”) as ever looking like the indie rock star from central casting, brandishing his instrument like a flagpole; however it initially felt a little flat, particularly after Youth Play, and needed something…
The
haunting, early New Order-esque newie “Makes No Difference” promised better,
the crowd finally moving along, and “Mary In The Bedroom”’s striped back moody intro
build to a pacier climax maintained momentum. However slowie “Love Song” then
saw a big drunk bloke barrel forward, shoving punters aside (including myself
and a couple of girls in front of me – more on them later) to grab a totally
underserved handshake with the singer, before, glassily eyed, barging his way
back. What a twat! Ironically, thereafter Ist Ist really kicked into gear, as
did (most of) the crowd, rocking along to the set mid-section. Then…
On the intro notes of the echoey, atmospheric oldie “Emily”, another hefty chap and his lady pushed through to stage front and centre, trying to initiate a slam-dance mosh. The lady dancer however piled rather aggressively into the 2 girls who’d previously been unceremoniously shoved aside by the drunk bloke, who this time pushed back; then the bloke got all up in their faces and things looked like kicking off for a sec, but sense prevailed and they moved a couple of rows back to continue dancing.
(A tough one to navigate, this; on the one hand, the dancing couple were super-aggressive in comparison to other dancing punters, plus (according to the photo guy during our post-gig chat) the guy was all, “how many gigs have you been to???” to the girls, displaying gatekeeping entitlement of the worst kind. On the other, the 2 girls never moved a muscle all night, despite folks dancing all around them, plus Adam’s repeated requests for Bristol to get moving. There’s places at gigs to stand stock still and watch, and they ain’t the front…)
Anyhoo,
back to the gig; Adam thanked the by-now much more engaged audience before the dark,
savage backbeat of oldie “Nights Arm”; the widescreen and expansive, Talk
Talk-esque synth-driven build of “Repercussions” was my overall set highlight;
and Andy greeted the punters on the balcony, enquiring, “is there anyone behind
the cages [to the sides]? I feel like Johnny Cash in Fulsom Prison…” before the
almost jolly, 80’s “Hope To Love” and urgent, metronomic “You’re Mine” rounded
off a set which happily had come nicely to the boil. The Kraftwerkian industrial
synth sound to “Here Comes The Fear” and growling, punkier closer “Stamp You
Out” were encore punctuations; band lists went early but after a little mooch I
noticed one still stuck up on the stage side, a roadie unpinning it for me. Result!
Extensive chats with the Youth Play boys, particularly drummer Finley about the
Joke (my first ever gig, of course!), then preceded a wait outside for the Ist
Ist boys to emerge; ultimately, I chatted with the photo guy who then popped
backstage for signatures for my list and “Daggers” CD. Result! Again… Drove
home reflecting on the gig, home at 10 past 11. Ultimately I’ll overlook the
hassle and remember 2 excellent performances, with The Youth Play on fire from
the outset, and Ist Ist more of an initial smoulder before the flames really
took hold and built to their usual widescreen conflagration. Either way, hot
stuff from both bands!
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