Dead Freights hosted a hometown gig last night at The Stage Door in Southampton, a small cabaret venue with a max capacity of 150 standing, an intimate affair attended by a large number of family and friends of all bands present. And why not, its great to play occasionally for those who support you.
First up were The Strifes
Not a lot of information about them online but from their contact email I can see they are Southampton based as well. Reminded me somewhat of The Ks, very tight as a group and they are just gettign started. The bass player was getting into it, animated with the music, solid vocals and great Melodie’s.
Next up was Teenage Waitress
An eclectic group onstage, i’d say a great band and very watchable, very enjoyable, and not over complicated, a fun vibe and great vocal. Further reading tells me teenage Waitress is another Southampton musician Daniel Ash, well he’s one i will be looking out for and look forward to seeing again. Plus the lastest album which i should have picked up last night is listed in Louderthanwar‘s top 100 albums of the year, ‘Your Cuckoo’ made it to number 10. Go have a listen you’ll not be disappointed.
The Headline Act – Dead Freights
Great as always and playing to the hometown crowd, seriously can’t fault them they smashed it. Just into it enjoying the moment and giving the audience their best! This is the third time i’ve seen them this year so the set was no surprise but that’s what I went for and they did not disappoint. You can read past posts on here for more.
On one of many visits to the old Astoria in Charing Cross Road, London I chose to ‘sit’ upstairs, I never sit by choice, i’m not old enough yet!. The Farm were playing and they were joined by Mick Jones of the Clash. I’d seen them a fair few times so you know what? It’s been a long day I’m going to sit and watch from afar-ish. I mention this as it was the first time id stood (sat) back and watched a band.
Tonight I stood towards the back near the bar, it’s a different view from my normal up close to the stage that I normally take. Its always a different experience removing that closeness to the music and watching the crowd and reactions as well.
Tonight I stood towards the back near the bar. Well I tried!
Before this moan I want to say this is not aimed at any band on the night, they were all great as i’ve said above.
For the first support act the venue was half empty compared to the end, they did not take to the stage until 8.15pm so no reason to miss them, support the support, theres a reason all support acts thank those for turning out early to see them. You rarely see bad support acts so your in for a better overall show when you turn up for them and you might be seeing the next BIG act early days.
If you’re only coming for the main act and turn up during the support, give them some respect, a wave of people came in during the second support act obviously to see the headliners being local and were so loud talking and ignoring the second act that from halfway back from the stage they were louder than the amps at the front. Not everyone can stand at the front so dont ruin others experiences by shouting loudly to be heard in conversation, there was another bar downstairs, go talk there and let others enjoy the music.
Always the hypocrite, I did got told off, I was briefly speaking to someone I met during the headline act and it hit a quite part of the set and we got told off for talking. We were back at the bar and I thought we were not loud but I think the mum or an auntie of the singer or a band member came and told us off and told us to be quiet, based on my previous comment above I did smile.
