  
First up tonight is young four piece Evans the Death. Their indie pop-rock music shows good potential but the band seem to suffer from a lack of confidence on stage (or perhaps its purely lack of experience). They play to a disappointingly small crowd - the venue is no more than a third full by the time they finish, but perhaps a larger crowd may have intimidated them more. With more experience on stage they should get a bit more confidence and start to show what they're really
capable of.
Second up tonight is Tender Trap. Straight away they demonstrate far more confidence than Evans the death, and their playing is tighter too. Their musical style is similar to the Primitives, with plenty of power and energy so goes down
well with the crowd. Its unusual to see the singer standing to one side of the stage though, with the guitarist/backing vocalist taking centre stage - the opposite to most bands. Also unusual is to see a drummer who stands up for the entire show. Tender Trap played to a much larger crowd than the first band and will definitely have made some new fans tonight.
Just before the Primitives take to the stage they finally open the merchandise stand - a poor bit of organisation that will have cost them in terms of missed sales - the merch stand should have been open from when the venue opened as a lot of people loked then walked away disappointed. Opening it effectively only for the duration of the bands set is a wasted opportunity as most fans will stay watching the band rather than making purchases.
The Primitives finally take to the stage 15 minutes late at 10pm which limits them to a one hour set as the venue has an 11pm curfew (in the end they over-run by a few minutes).
I first saw The Primitives back in 1989, so when they started playing live shows again last year I was very happy. Tonights show is a great fun trip down memory lane as the band play their classic hits including Crash, Thru the flowers, Pretty stupid, and more, as well as performing new songs from their new 4 track vinyl EP. Despite the fact that its over 20 years since I first saw them play live, you wouldnt know it from listening to them - they still sound just as good now as they did back then. The crowd clearly enjoy tonights show with plenty of people dancing or singing along.
A great fun night, but I'd have enjoyed the encore more had the band started at the advertised time (9.45) rather than running late, as like many fans here tonight I had a train to run for (and due to the late finish it was literally a case of running for the last train of the night for me), so when the show over-runs then people start nervously keeping an eye on the time to avoid missing trains.
Primitives photos: http://festivalphoto.net/index.php?page=2&concertID=18154
Tender trap photos: http://festivalphoto.net/index.php?page=2&concertID=18220
Evans the death photos: http://festivalphoto.net/index.php?page=2&concertID=18205
Primitives setlist:
Stick with you
Shining bright
Stop killing me
Pretty stupid
Nothing left
You are the way
Summer rain
Never kill a secret
Empathise
Dreamwalk baby
Buzz buzz buzz
Need all the help I can get
Spacehead
Sick of it all
Crash
Rattle my cage
We've found a way to the sun
Encore:
Way behind me
Thru the flowers
Tender Trap setlist:
Talking backwards
Could this be the last time
Dansette Dansette
Fireworks
Oh Katrina
Step one
Girls with guns
Suddenly
Bye Bye Christmas day
Do you wanna boyfriend |
