Pocket Billiards + Guests @ Auntie Annies – 23/09/10

September 30, 2010 No Comments

The first band to play of the night was ‘Kids For The Weekend’ and, to be frank, I didn’t like them… I’ll try to be professional here but I really didn’t enjoy myself. They started with an emo vibe that they maintained throughout. Apart from a remotely decent cover of the Thin Lizzy classic, “The boys are back in town”, the singer was impossible to make out in any of their tracks – mumbling must be a new singing style I’m not aware of. The band, individually, played their instruments well though it didn’t feel like they were part of the same band.

All together I was worried how the night would progress from here on out. The next band up, Gascan Ruckus, put paid to my worries in a fine immediate burst of heavy rock tunage. This quickly switched into a metal beat, bouncing between the two genres in a delightful and well-managed way. A tight four piece band – they ramped up the pace, pushing the crowd along with their tempo and at one point switching into a sudden unexpected Ska twist. A good band that reasserted my hopes for the night…

The third band carried some promise, however a major flaw hurt their chances. Under Stars and Gutters were up on stage as a three piece with the singer doubling up as the bass player. This as far as I’m concerned led to a lacklustre performance. Timing was off between the members of the band, with the singer torn between bass duties and his voice. Neither role was given full attention. Due to this, the entire performance suffered – hopefully they’ll get a separate bass player and rectify the problem soon.

Finally Pocket Billiards came on to perform their set. Now I love a bit of Ska punk, like fine wine drank from a bottle. And pocket billiards know how to bring the ska atmosphere to a gig like this. Within a verse of the first song the entirety of Auntie Annie’s was rocking out to their tunes. I may have been reviewing at this stage but most likely I was in the middle of the mosh pit bouncing off of fellow “dancers”.

Tight enthusiastic playing plus a damn fine horn section powered us through the night. On a side note, crowd surfing can be accomplished in Auntie Annie’s but only just and not without being dropped a few times, as I watched one enthusiastic if dim lad try to break some sort of crowd surfing record, he may have bounced once, which was fun to watch.

By Dale Mawhinney

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