By DJ Astrocreep
A potentially penultimate jaunt of the year across to Manchester sees me take in Grebo legends Gaye Bykers On Acid for the first time. There are two supports labelled – a Buzzcocks tribute band, who unfortunately have to pull out with late notice, and Hugh Reed And The Velvet Underpants. With names like we have for the bands, it can surely only be a night of chaos and weirdness, right? It seems I knew absolutely nothing of what was to come…
So the name of Hugh Reed And The Velvet Underpants, for me at least, conjures up mental images of the Velvet Underground with a comedic twist. I was actually not too far away with this. What I wasn’t ready for was just how batshit, in the best possible way, they were going to be.
Comedic rock n roll, with a dash of Prince and a dash of punk and an absolute metric fuckton of props! From giant (rough guess of three foot across) diameter boxing gloves, a toilet seat, an old style corded telephone, appropriately pulled from pants and costumes including a policeman, a barrister and a prisoner (and they were just in 6-1!) and more, it’s an absolute comedy rollercoaster.
There is such good-natured humour in the songs and the performance, it’s impossible not to get swept away and just sing along with the catchy tunes. With song content ranging from IrnBru to a cover of Prince’s ‘1999’ (about the cost of a party from Tesco, obviously) and set finale ‘Stamp Collecting’, which is our short, sharp punky closer, the busying crowd are won over one by one with the humour and great vibes, as frontman Reed keeps heading out into the audience to either sing and shout at people, or flick the mic wire. A brilliant warm up performance.
Coming on to ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’, with the crowd loudly singing and dancing along, we finally get our headliners and they’re straight into the action. Absolutely everyone is up for it all, despite having a fairly varied audience. From goths to normals to metalheads to punks, everyone is just there to party and have a good time, with the frequent pits being obviously good natured, with big smiles on faces.
I had been a bit wary beforehand of quite how they would sound now but I needn’t have worried, they’re as tight as ever. Despite being compacted down into just the front area of the venue, the room fills decently just before GBOA take to the stage, meaning that while everyone has space to dance away in their own hippy pit, the room still looks quite busy. The lights and the music work really well in tandem to create the perfect party atmosphere and everyone, bands and attendees alike, are clearly just absolutely loving life, the way it should be.
Starting off with one of their biggest songs in ‘Nosedive Karma’ is a hell of a way to make an introduction, but it sets the tone for a fabulous set. Even a new song, with a booming chorus of, “can I get a hallelujah?” goes down really well and it’s great seeing how much energy is constantly on show around the place.
‘Rad Dude’ is a nice highlight too before we get down to the two song encore that they just get on with, rather than the de facto fake ending you get with most bands. With a double encore of ‘TV Cabbage’ and ‘Everything’s Groovy’, it’s a finale that goes with a huge bang.
As live introductions go, it’s a hell of a night to be introduced to two new bands, regardless of how long they’ve been going for and they pay great thanks to everyone that’s helped out on the tour, including veteran promoter Frank of Flag, who out it on. A superb show.
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