Friday 2 November 2001

Is enthusiasm back in fashion or did I simply come on the wrong night? For days, I was looking in vain for a poster to advertise tonight's gig, and when I did find one it was in the window of the Yorkie itself. A packed crowd did not, at the time, seem a possibility, yet I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the crowd who turned out. Admittedly, they did look very comfortable in each others company, but they were a welcome change in themselves.

As, indeed, are Beef Sharky. I have not had the pleasure of their company before, a fact borne out by my misspelling of their name in this month's listings, but I shall certainly be paying closer attention next time. A four piece comprising three chaps on the guitars and drums and a lass on the bass, although this arrangement was subject to much change, as were the responsibilites of singing - everyone but the drummer had a go at it. As I arrived, the female member was singing for us, but a somewhat murky mix prevents me from having anything to say about it except that next time she does, it might be nice to actually be able to hear her. Mind you, nobody else got a great vocal mix either which was dissapointing - there definitely seemed to be some interesting lyrics in there. I simply haven't a clue what they were.

Musically, the 'Sharks are putting about a pleasantly grungy set of melodic pop with a slightly unsettling undertone; a vaguely velvets-ish vibe seems to run through their music, although obviously filtered through a 'nineties set of pop sensibilities. All through their set, the band displayed very encouraging signs of imagination, particularly in the song writing and the guitar playing departments - some very enjoyable atonal playing going on. A matter of personal taste admittedly, but they might like to insert a few more musical hooks into their songs - I know I enjoyed it, I just can't remember what it was I enjoyed. Also, the bassist did seem a little rudimentary in her approach, but, saying that, in no way did that detract from the general level of quality in tonight's show. Unless my eyes decieve me (and the treacherous little bastards frequently do) I think I witnessed a show of great promise. Now they should go and make it even better.

It was some two or three songs in to Ten Stone Dead's set that the relevance of the "Stone" reference became apparent - "stone", as in "Roses". Ten Stone Dead are obviously a very sincere and talented bunch, but their set was at the wrong end of tonight's show. Although the set was well performed, it was difficult to escape an overall feeling of samey-ness: an unadventurous line in melody, with an accompaniment that too often relied on the John Squire-inspired delayed guitar. Too many songs sounded like conscious attempts to re-write obviously well-loved favourites, which seems to have constricted TSD's imagination. Whilst they are by no means the only people doing this sort of thing, it seemed ironic that they should have a reasonably versatile line-up (always nice to see some keyboards) which they dedicated to repeatedly reproducing the same overall sound. The poor mix which marred Beef Sharky's vocals seemed to deteriorate further during the remainder of the night, so that the only times that the keyboards or acoustic guitar were audible was during unaccompanied introductions. I'm sure it isn't just partisan loyalty which contributed to the greatly diminished audience at the end of their set - what had started as a very interesting and enjoyable night had eventually settled into something much more mundane.

Paddy Garrigan