Friday 5th March 2010 @ Academy, Bristol
With Support From: Tinashe, Tiffany Page

The Academy was already heaving as Tinashe started the night off with an animated and audacious performance. His driving acoustic chord progressions complemented his smooth yet controlling vocal melodies and the strong musical influence from Zimbabwe was clear which was fascinatingly merged into a wild mixture of syncopated rhythms and synthesized riffs. A young man with an extremely promising future.

Next up was Tiffany Page who kick-started her set with a commanding voice and the cross between punk, folk and blues went well with her harsh jagged vocals. Clearly very heavily influenced by artists such as Joan Baez and Pink, Tiffany Page wowed the audience the sweet verses which swiftly transformed into roaring choruses.

The stage lighting dimmed to a deep mysterious purple as the eager crowd started to stamp their feet in anticipation. I had to cover my ears as the crescendo of screams grew to a climax with the Noisettes’ entrance onto the stage. Shingai Shoniwa graced the audience with her incredible vocal talent and her charisma and highly energetic performance on stage was simply staggering. The dirty indie rock blended with a soulful bluesy edge gave them a very unique sound which, at times, exploded into a frenzy of frantic drum fills, falsetto screaming and of course, heavy strobe lighting. Some incredible solos from the lead guitarist even led to him playing the Fender Jaguar with his molars and at one stage made the announcement; “I’m going to get naked! I don’t give a SHIT!”

The hit, Never Forget You, had the audience eating out of their by now “sweaty” hands and not once did the band falter in their astounding performance. Their sheer nerve at times and the overall tightness of the band made it an incredible live feat. They left the audience gagging for more.

www.noisettes.net

Tom Dunn
Photos by Rossy Barnett