By DJ Astrocreep
A rare gig in my home city beckons after fate conspired to stop me from catching Blood Red Shoes at their Manchester gig earlier this year, so an opportunity to catch them on home soil seemed like a terrible thing to waste. A double support act of Gen and the Degenerates and Queen Kwong mark a solid bill from one of Liverpool’s most established promoters still going.
Our first support are local act Gen and the Degenerates, who are rather infectious and enjoyable in fairly equal parts. While vocalist Gen has a couple of slightly off bits at times, she is overall quite controlled in her vocal style, in the vein of a Kathleen Hanna perhaps. The band behind are quite accomplished too, bringing a sound that combines a more modern hard rock edge with the fun of old fashioned rock and roll, with the fun part being quite obvious and overflowing as the rather likeable Gen rambles her way between songs and is clearly enjoying herself immensely on the stage. The songs are catchy, with a good section of the audience dancing through most of the set, while most of the rest are at least nodding their heads. An enjoyable act who could have a decent future, with the correct guidance.
Our main support, Queen Kwong, is someone whose work is already quite well known to me, having done a 600+ mile round trip to London and back to catch her live previously. Whilst not as experimental as some of the acts I listen to, she is someone who certainly does not play it safe, combining quite soft, melodious vocals with at times rather abrasive guitar and drum work, with the juxtaposition being balanced in such a delicate yet precise manner that it feels like am experience to see her live, rather than just a band playing on stage. The penultimate track is one that probably demonstrates her work at its best, with the raw feeling behind what is a quite eerily delivered repeated line, “This is the happiest place on earth…” demonstrating Carré Callaway’s refusal to stick to rock’s norms and deliver something quite different and certainly ear catching.
I’ve always been struck by how Blood Red Shoes have not become much bigger than they are. While I’ve been lucky enough to catch them on more than one occasion before, the last time was on the ‘BBC Introducing’ stage at Leeds Festival in 2016, prior to the issues that almost finished the band off before the air was properly cleared. The chemistry between the duo on stage still comes across well, as Laura-Mary keeps coming across to Steven when off vocal duty, as if playing directly to and for him l, in a way that hopefully bodes well for plenty of material to come. They are at their imperious best when mixing their in-your-face rock tracks with the vocal melodies, coming across as quite Punk without ever actually being so.
Set highlights definitely include the likes of ‘Je Me Perds’, the lead single off this year’s album ‘Get Tragic‘, ‘Mexican Dress’ and a to date one-off performance of their newly written single with Queen Kwong as the encore opener. The mix between new and older tracks is about right, with a couple of friends joining Laura-Mary and Steven on stage for the tracks from ‘Get Tragic’, adding the extra bit of backing that they can’t work in themselves. It’s only when ‘Mexican Dress’ comes on third in the set that more than a couple of heads and bodies start to move, which is one of the obvious worries when curating new music into a set, though the energy from the crowd certainly picks up when songs are recognised by more of them. It’s a hugely enjoyable set full of far too many catchy hooks and riffs that have burrowed into my head again. It may be night 59 of the tour, but the energy is certainly still there. A great night to finish the tour with a proper bang!
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