James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
Pressure was on the opening act, Bring on the Wall; new acts this year who paid no attention to the competition, and were all about having fun. Although judges’ comments were (characteristically) harsh, one having said that it was “overall, a post-rock performance done quite badly”, they were not disheartened and “loved the funk of [their] music”, as lead-man Dom put it.
Next up were Gurmeet Singh’s Percussion Buffet, a team of samba percussionists that wowed the crowd, entertaining them with their crazy rhythms and beats. The group were finally allowed to make their BOB debut this year, having applied for the past two years but been denied for having too many band-members. Tonight however, they definitely proved themselves. The crowd finally seemed more alive, dancing and clapping to the beats, a few fans having the privilege of dancing with some of the performers as they hoped off the stage to join the crowd.
Third in line were The Goslings who were also making their BOB debut, but have previously both performed at Woodstock and won Alcuin’s Got Talent last year. Despite the considerable set-back of having lost both their saxophonist and their bass player, as well as the absence of their lead vocalist, they managed to re-vamp their image and perform hits such as Nina Simone’s version of 'Feeling Good’. After much technical difficulty in the first song, they managed to pull through and impress the audience, with lead-guitarist Doug on top form. Drummer Maggie Aslet was also impressive tonight, showing no sign of her mid-performance left hand injury. The Goslings earned another harsh and rather inadequate comment from the judges, who deemed them, “an A-class band with a C-class singer.”
The Bismark Connection were up next, a band who have participated in Battle of the Bands for the last three years running. With their simple philosophy, “simple music for simple people”, they embarked on a performance of hits like 'Propane Nightmares', with which they won the crowd over.
The closing act was Roborovsky; a band named after a hamster. Their music being much more alternative than the other bands and performers tonight, it seemed like the perfect end to the night, as the crowd thinned out and weariness was getting to everyone in the room. Their performance once again earned them harsh criticisms from the judges, who seemed to be in a foul mood from the beginning of the evening.
All in all, a great heat! Through to the semi-finals in week 6 are The Goslings and Gurmeet Singh’s Percussion Buffet, who were, judging by the crowd reaction, the night's favourites.
BOB continues in week 6 with the semi-finals. Watch this space!
This is a review of Heat 5, not Heat 4.
Heat 4 was on Thursday, and no review has been posted yet by The Yorker to my knowledge.
The first band were called Bring on the Wall.
And they were the "Bismark Connection" not the "Bismark Collection". Come on guys! It's even on URY's website - http://ury.york.ac.uk/bob
The Goslings were the winners of this heat, Gurmeet Singh's percussion buffet came second. Samba have not been allowed to play before because of the stage size and health and safety reasons thereof, the Battle of the Bands committee don't just pull rules out of hats, thank you all the same.
The Judges gave shorter comments than usual because they were unable to get themselves heard over the inappropriate heckling from the crowd who were upset that the judges hadn't been sugar-coating their comments on the first band. The judges have their reasons for their choices and that's down to them - we ask them to share them with the bands so that they can improve and this involves sharing them with the audience, if the audience are willing to listen. The judges all have their musical credentials (and if you were that bothered you could've asked me for them) but they don't have to justify themselves to a bunch of morons who wish they were in a X-Factor studio audience. If you'd actually been able to hear the comments on Roborovsky then you would've known that they weren't actually harsh, they weren't even negative for the most part.
The Goslings covered "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone, not "Fever". Also, the "technical difficulty" was from the vocal channel having to be turned up too far because the vocalist was singing too quietly and too far away from the mic, causing a feedback loop in the monitors.
Foul mood all evening? I think you mean giving very brief and frank comments on the bands perfomances as a result of the inappropriate and abusive heckling from the audience.
'Roborovsky' did not get harsh critisisms and I quote "A good performance... ...only let down slightly by the vocals and you all looked really bored."
I ranked them 2nd, unfortunately they were let down by the audience vote.
Just a comment about #3 saying the "vocalist was singing too quietly" for the first item in The Goslings set. It was an instrumental, therefore the vocalist didn't sing at all, which is why she may have come across as 'quiet'.
Sorry to be Correction Guy, but The Bismarck Connection haven't played any BoBs before. The three of us have played previous BoBs together, but in other bands which have included other people.
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report