Bears in Trees - King Tut's - 2/17/2022

I was happy to have a ticket become available for this gig, sold out as evidenced by the kids (some chaperoned by their parents) lined around the block at 8pm doors. Lucy Blue made the early arrival worthwhile as the Irish songstress played her piano keyboard, and only minor pre-recorded accompaniment otherwise. Mostly literal songs, like the one about The Postman hoping for love in a Valentine's Day sack of mail. She was engaging, had a nice voice, and was very complimentary thereby winning us over and enjoying a mostly quiet room for her mostly quiet songs.

Before the Bears arrived to the neon stage trees, there was a palpable energy in the room which I suppose is what happens with teenage excitement. The side door opened, offering a glimpse of one of the members, thus eliciting a squeal from three fans stood on the side bench. The TikTok generation had their phones aloft as the foursome appeared on stage with plenty of pizzazz and smiles. The crowd roared throughout and it was genuinely deserved as they laid down a sizeable chunk of their catalogue across an hour an a bit, including the encore. Existing personal favourite, I'm Doing Push Ups, hit well especially after the heartfelt introduction from my preferred member, the curly haired guitarist who smiled and sang along for the entire show (although rarely into the mic). That said, new-to-me songs such as Good Rhymes for Bad Times were also fun to see live. The made-up bassist was de facto ringleader although the uke and keyboard player was happy to be his right hand man for the silly, pre-rehearsed banter before Sun Machine or the piano tinkling dance for Keep It Easy (an above average live tune). The crowd ate this up, belting along on choruses such as Cut Corners on Short Walks, and they delivered on their emo, twee, indie pop playing so I was content to go along for the ride, such as on the buoyant Heaven Sent is a Coffee Cup. Even when they slowed it down for Little Cellist it continued to be entertaining.

As expected, a solid "one more tune" chant echoed through Tut's until they returned and actually played two, the first reaching Great Heights. All in all it was an upbeat gig, affirming their rightful place as the continuation of the twee core genre passed on by their Welsh brethren, Los Campesinos!

Another Sky, Ailsa Tully - King Tut's - 8/11/21

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.