Saturday, May 09, 2009

The Heathers / Hitchcock / 10 Guitars @ The Rainbow, Friday 8th May 2009

Imagine, if you will, what would have happened if diminutive pervy purple pop legend Prince hadn’t been born in the good old US of A, but instead right here in Brum…in the 80’s. Happily you don’t have to because we have 10 Guitars right here in our midst. Pretty fly for a white guy, Mr 10 Guitars delivers a unique blend of the funk with a hardcore rave heart (now that’s a movie I’d love to see Mel Gibson make…Raveheart…the story of a Glaswegian raver in the 1980’s…). As bouncy as Tigger on E he was backed by the lovely Carlo on skins, adding an extra layer of sound to the live performance that was missing last time I saw him. I loved it so much I bought the CD for a whole 2 quid – credit crunch? What credit crunch? 11 out of 10 (guitars)…the bonus point is for that 1999 cover version (which you can check out on the 10 Guitars MySpace thingy).


Next up the quite frankly terrifying but really rather excellent Hitchcock. Continuing the rave flava, the lead Hitch is an Iggy Pop-esque figure for the Prodigy generation. You know how much I like inventing genres so I'll settle for Goth Disco here. Wearing a mac, white shoes, white gloves and eyes blackened into his skull he’s one of the most engaging performers you’re ever likely to see, with a stage show that screams to be seen in a massive venue. Actually you can see him opening for the Prodigy in one of their stadium tours and going down a storm…how about it chaps? Isn’t that how the music biz works nowadays? I write something in a blog and it all just happens? What’s that? Oh? It’s all still controlled by a couple of blokes in tight trousers with a nasty coke habit? Oh pooh. Anyway, Hitchcock are murderously good and I half expected their namesake (young Alfred) to wander on to the stage mid set and do a spot of break dancing. Yes, I truly believe that Hitchcock have the power to raise the dead. Amen.

Finally, casting aside all talk of dead film directors, it’s The Heathers. Another endearing performance from Rachel and the boys replete with all the best tracks – Copper Bottomed Heart, The Other Women’s Club and a newish one that might be called Hold On. Listening last night I came to the conclusion that Rachel’s got a kind of country twinge to her vocal (as in country and western…she doesn’t sound like Belgium or anything) and I’d like to see her do an acoustic number with the band one day – a slower track maybe about how her man done her wrong, or the death of a puppy…that sort of thing (that’s pretty much what all country and western songs are about isn’t it?). Plenty of classic Rachel moments again tonight…I do hope the sticky stuff that she trod in (barefoot I hasten to add) wasn’t that half eaten remains of some poor unfortunate consumed by the lead singer of Hitchcock, although that might explain why he kept eyeing me up. Actually I think I’d make a rather tasty midnight snack, there’s certainly enough of me to go round…you could have me cold the next day on a sandwich…am I actually still writing this…?

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