By DJ Astrocreep
A hometown gig is a rarity in itself for me these days, so I jumped at the chance to catch South African legends The Parlotones in the world-famous Cavern Club, a side of town I don’t normally frequent myself, due to its tourist trap status. Regardless of that, there are few enough touring bands that seem to play my hometown these days that even having a million Beatles related things around me don’t bother me for once – it’s time to get gigging!
Our support act are The Magic Es, with the three-piece bringing a golden era of power-pop to the fore with their sound. It’s quite likeable, in all honesty, quite soothing and easy to relax to. It’s quite busy for a support act and I can quickly see why as they start on their set, with the easy to digest music proving a hit with us all. The songs come across as quite well written by the Norwich-based trio and the set seems to go by really quickly, another sign of the level of enjoyment that we all get from the band, to the point that the time had passed before I had taken many notes, something I feel quite remiss in and isn’t usual for me. A good set.
So, time for The Parlotones. I’m struck from the off on how much the volume increases from the audience and it’s clear the band are enjoying themselves as much as the crowd. Almost every song gets a loud sing along from so many people and the atmosphere reminds me of the very first time I set foot in this room, for a grassroots Echo and the Bunnymen gig the best part of 20 years ago, hot, sweaty and an incredibly uplifting and passionate thing. People dancing, laughing, cheering, singing, it feels fairly equal parts wholesome and pretty much just the way I wish every gig felt, so fun, friendly and welcoming. The kind of gig that gives you the bug to keep on gigging forever.
The energy reflects from audience to band and back again, constantly geeing up the other side to keep the spirits high. We get such staples as ‘Overexposed’, ‘Shake It Up’ and ‘Beautiful’, with the setlist rotated as they have done on previous nights. ‘Push Me To The Floor’ encapsulates every single thing I have said above, while the following cover excerpt of ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ is delivered immaculately, keeping the high energy going longer still.
Our first encore is a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’, performed solely by vocalist Kahn, which gets us kicked back off into the four song extra set, finishing with ‘Baby Be Mine’. A slow but heartfelt closing to a show that has burned nothing but brightly from the beginning.
- PHOTO CREDIT: Photos by the author.
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