By David Stewart
Tonight’s offering of music and entertainment came from three very different bands and in a very different venue. Headliners E.B. And The Deadlights I’ve seen on a number of occasions, with the two support bands being one that I’ve never heard of and the other being one that I have heard of and have wanted to see for a while now. The very different venue being the Belfast Barge. Yes: hard alternative rock on a boat.
The show opened with the band that I’ve never heard of before called Spider-Juice. To be honest I didn’t know what to expect from them as id never heard anything by them. Musically they sounded in a similar vain to Paramore – even doing a Paramore cover. We also had several originals from the band and another cover, that being ‘I’m Not OK’ by My Chemical Romance.
Spider-Juice are a new band and you could tell that they haven’t been going for that long. That’s by no means a put down to them as I think with a bit of time and a chance to get some more experience under their belt, they are a band that shows a lot of promise.
- Spider-Juice play McHugh’s Bar, Belfast, with Voodoo Chief, Alpha Twin and Blurred Reality, on Thursday 24 November.
Next on the line-up upon the high seas – well not so much high seas, but the River Lagan – was a band that I’ve wanted to check out for a while now and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Somehow Sentient are what I could only describe as a bit rock, a bit punk, a bit ska, but a whole lot of fun.
The audience were very much into them, with a lot of people in the venue dancing throughout most of their set, which consisted of some originals and covers. One of the highlights being their cover of the Ray Parker Jr hit ‘Ghostbusters’, which was very fitting considering we were only a few days away from Halloween.
Somehow Sentient are a really entertaining band. One that I would definitely go to see if I was looking to have a fun night out.
- Somehow Sentient play Voodoo, Belfast, with NI Soul Troop and The Skallions, on Saturday 31 December.
Finally on tonight’s agenda were headliners E.B. And The Deadlights for their ‘Unmarked Grave’ launch show.
The show started with Marilyn Manson’s ‘I Put A Spell On You’ playing over the PA as the band members, all but one, came through the audience all wearing matching black hoodies with plain white masks covering their faces. As their intro finished front man Ethan Beattie entered onto the stage and the band went straight into ‘Endless Hope’.
The band in the past have used a few covers to pad out their set lists, but now with time and the writing of new material there was only one cover to be found on the night and the show flowed brilliantly.
Angry, aggressive and energetic are the words that I would use to describe the next hour as the band put on, what would be, in my opinion, their best outing yet. They never missed a beat and the addition of new drummer AJ Lynn certainly didn’t hurt them either, as he played an absolute blinder throughout.
The band never held out for a moment for the entire set and maintained their heavy, aggressive style throughout and only remotely slowing things down a little during ‘Still See Ghosts’, but then kicking the aggressiveness back in again as soon as the song was over.
All of the songs on offer went down really well with the audience, including new single (and former Über Rock Video Of The Week) ‘Unmarked Grave’ as well as other original material from the band including ‘Empty Frames’, ‘Fatal Violence’, ‘Devil Between Me And You’ and show finale ‘Nightmare Or Reality’.
A very enjoyable and entertaining night at a sold out Belfast Barge.
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