The main event and reason I was there was for Another Sky who were likened to Radiohead or Everything Everything, comparisons that aren't wrong but don't accurately describe their sound. It starts with the deep, yet feminine singing vocals from their lead - a voice like none that I can place, it is very strong and as good as it sounds on record, it blew me away live. In fact, the entire band matched or beat the album (and I really like 'I Slept On The Floor.') The drumming is so much more interesting than straight keeping time which kept me on my toes, and the stocking foot drummer on his. Not to be outdone the lead guitarist was completely barefoot (with long hair and a beard I was happy he didn't have hobbit feet.) The bassist was wearing shoes as was her lead vocalist counterpart, who also doubled on the keys and guitar depending on the song. Last year I fell in love with Fell In Love With The City and it was great as the opener. Other standouts were the one-two of Riverbed into All Ends and the singalong of Only Rain, though the highlight may have been set finale, Brave Face. Everyone seemed enamoured in the perfect-sized nearly-full King Tuts so it wasn't hard to get them to return for the encore (that was already on the set-list - chilled Tree into powerful Avalanche). I'm convinced, and others agreed, that it wasn't just the excitement of a real live gig but that this would be a cut above anytime.
Ailsa Tully was bubbly between songs but along with her other guitarist and
drummer they played a rather samey set. Considering I didn't find the first
song all that engaging by the end of 8 of the same I was ready to move along,
though one in the middle did have the drums hit a little harder so it was
slightly better. The crowd seemed to enjoy it - or maybe they were all just
happy to be back seeing live music for the first time in a year and a half.
