Eat Your Carrots

Sugababes @ Newcastle Arena

We went to see The Sugababes tonight in Newcastle. Quite a bit more poppy than the bands I normally go and see, but I've liked them since way back when Overload first came to my attention and this was our umpteenth attempt at going to see them. One previous attempt was expensively foiled when we got the date wrong and just plain forgot to turn up and others of their tour dates have always clashed with our holidays. So here, eventually, we got to see them at last.

We had fantastic seats, probably the best we've ever had. 5 rows back and dead centre, it gave a perfect view and there were no annoyingly tall people in front of us.

They put on a good show, doing all of their big hits (at least I can't think of one that wasn't there) and performing them all very well. The stage was simple yet colourful, a series of TV display boards adding a colourful and interesting backdrop to their performances. It has to be said that Keisha and Heidi both have superb and powerful voices, which are not often highlighted by the types of songs that they sing. When they do "let rip" though it kind of puts Amelle, the newcomer to the band, in the shade a bit. She's not bad, but she's not in the same league really.

The show culminated with a load of smoke and glitter being blatsed out into the crowd and naturally, being only 5 rows back, we got covered in the stuff and took much of it home with us in our clothing and hair!

Support for the eveining came from Laura Critchley (left) and Dragonette (below right). Laura Critchley was a Liverpudlian (sounding) singer who sang some poppy ballads that were quite catchy and well performed. The overall sound from just her and her two backing musicians was pretty impressive (everything was at just the right level, unlike the second support and even the Sugababes which were a bit over-amped) and her voice was excellent. Seeing people like this makes you realise that becoming "big" in the pop world must involve a great deal of luck as there are very many excellent musicians out there who, while being technically as good as others who do make it, simply don't make it themselves for one reason or another.

Dragonette were a bit more my usual scene, a raw, edgy sound that wan't too poppy. The singer, Martina Sorbara, is certainly no shrinking violet and makes a good front-person. Her ususual looks and moves and her superb voice make her fascinating to watch. They're from Toronto but seem to be basing themselves in London at the moment in an attempt to make it over here -- apparently PopJustice (and here) named them "the band to watch out for in 2007". Well I'll keep watching out for them but I suspect, like Laura Critchley, they just won't get the necessary breaks.

The Bells, The Bells!

We went to see Howling Bells tonight. Baby Niece was both a surprise and a letdown when she said that she didn't want to go and see them - turning down a concert, unheard of! This meant that I had to take wife, who had neither heard, nor indeed heard of Howling Bells. It at least meant that we could make a night of it and enjoy a nice meal out in Newcastle (see elsewhere).

The concert was at The Academy once again, in the small and intimate Academy 2 venue, probably my favourite concert venue. All gigs here seem better simply because you're right on top of the band. You can see close-up just how much they're putting into the music and (usually) just how much fun they're having doing so.

Support act for the night was Doncaster's Wallbirds (pictured). I'm not sure how to describe their style - rockabilly maybe, or a bit Johnny Cash  meets Dylan. Whatever, it actually got people dancing (proper dancing, not just leaping about), the first time that I've seen that at this venue. The band were all disgustingly young, obviously having a great time, and made a good sound. I don't know if they'll have much recording success, their sound maybe a bit "niche", but they're certainly a good live act.

The Howling Bells themselves were everything that I expected and more. Three loud guitars, a drummer and a uniquely vocaled female singer, they have a sound that is all their own. Each number they played I thought "this is my favourite track" until it turned out that they were (almost) all my favourites. A great album and an even better live set, once again the effort, energy, passion and feeling that they put into their work was plain to see. The audience lapped it up.

Some bands, once I've seen them I fell that it's "satisfied a need", so to speak. I'd go to see The 'Bells tomorrow if they were on again.