Drummer Steve Ansell, who, with his drums set 'side on' so he can turn to the audience when he sings, seems to be the bands main spokesperson during live shows. He took a moment between songs to reminisce on the bands history with the city, recalling their first ever shows 10 years ago in Brighton at the old Freebutt. The last time I saw Blood Red Shoes was also at the Freebutt, not their debut show but probably not long after and what's most impressive tonight is that while the band have improved in all the ways you might expect from ten years (as one of Britain's hardest working live bands) they are now one of the tightest bands you will ever see and also one of the best sounding. Loosing very little of the energy that made them an exciting prospect back in those early stages. Any fears I had about them not living up to the studio sound were banished within minutes: Laura-Mary Carter and Steve Ansell play together tonight like conjoined twins who share one heart, one voice, one brain and one deep love for music that is fast, loud and vital.
At one point Steve tells us his pregnant sister is in the audience tonight and dedicates 'A Perfect Mess' to his unborn niece/nephew. At the end of the song in fits of giggles the band acknowledge this may have been a poor choice of dedication for an unborn child. This is typical of the show this evening, Blood Red Shoes are in conversational, relaxed mode, encouraging banter from the 'laddy' elements in the crowd, banter they can't really interpret thanks to their in-ear monitoring system! Their new, self-titled, self-produced album gets a good airing: 'An Animal', 'Speech Coma' and 'Everything All At Once' sound great tonight, as do earlier singles 'Heartsink' and 'Cold'. They lost a little momentum during the second third of their main set, but with such high octane material a little respite can be a good thing. The set seemed to be a little front-loaded with crowd-pleasers but maybe that’s because I, along with a large chunk of the audience, are more recent converts.
After a good hour of smashing it, the band exit briefly for “more tequila” before returning to play a three song encore that ends with the short sharp slap in the face that is 'Je Me Perd' from their third album ‘In Time To Voices’. Afterwards Ansell leaps into the crowd for a quick 'surf atop' the faithful. This is a band in their prime having the time of their lives and now is the time to see them live: sounding great playing choice cuts from their best album yet (read my review here). Thumbs up all round!
Adam Kidd