RED STRIPE MUSIC AWARDS 2008: The Finalists
- Posted on May 15, 2008 11:37 AM
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Red Stripe Music Awards 2008
Review By Andy Hirst
Hundreds of bands, performing at dozens of venues over many, many months had all been whittled down to the final four hopefuls seeking to hold the sought after title of Red Stripe Music Awards 08 Battle of the Bands Winner and all of the goodies that entails.
The final setting for the epic battle was the Kentish town Forum and the fortunate bands still in contention were performing in front of a packed crowd of devoted fans who had made the long journey to London town with the bands. A headline set from The Dirty Pretty Things also brought a little bit of the limelight to the event from a band rather more accustomed to the big stage setting than the young pretenders.
First up were the Down and Outs, their rather early stage time of 7.15 caught me unawares but after a quick dash from the bar clutching my complimentary Red Stripe I was greeted with a joyous, melody packed set from the Glaswegian four piece. Classically crafted sunny songs reminiscent of many great bands from The Beatles through to Vampire weekend kept the crowd thoroughly entertained for the full duration of the set and expectant of what would be following.
We were left expectant for no time at all as next up were Kiddo, also making the journey across the border for this event, this time from Edinburgh, they rocketed through a frantically paced, high octane set filled with catchy chorus’s and raucous guitars of notable comparison to the Strokes, leaving no doubt as to how they had made the final four.
Klaus says Buy the Record provided a slight change of pace with his uplifting blend of poetic lyrics and a mix of looped vocals and guitars, occupying the stage with a presence his diminutive stature may not allude to. His energetic shows have been captivating audiences in Brighton and London for a while now and its not hard to see why as he jaunted around the stage bare footed occasionally drowned in the smoke from an overly appreciative smoke machine. He’s been compared to Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and the comparison is certainly not without basis but there is also something of an African feel to many of his melodies and rhythms and the addition of a band for the final couple of tracks gave an interesting change in feel to the latter part of the set.
With a blink of the eye Klaus had gone and Yorkshire five piece O Fracas had taken to the stage. Once again an energetic set was quickly dispensed with; whipping the crowd into an excited frenzy with a set filed with angular riffs and offbeat rhythms none too dissimilar to their Yorkshire contemporaries - The Artic Monkeys. From time to time the sound wavered in quality and became a little messy however I am sure we can allow a few pressures from the big night to take effect without too much criticism especially for such polite young lads as these guys.
With the hard work done it was left to the judges Stuart Clark from Music Week, Oli Hodgson from Coda and Will Kinsman from The Fly to make the final life changing decision. Who would be unceremoniously sent back home with their tale firmly between their legs and who would be lifted in to the upper echelons of the musical elite? After due time and consideration the Runners, winners of the same event last year took to the stage to make the announcement and to remind the next winner where hey could be in a years time. Perhaps that message would not be too well portrayed by a band from whom I had heard very little of and judging by the audiences response neither had they, however this did not seem to detract from Klaus’s happiness as he received the award.
The Dirty Pretty things rounded up proceedings but in the competitive nature of the proceedings ¾ of the bands and their fans were left disappointed by the results and as such seemed to show little interest in the headline act. The band seemed to be aware of their unfavorable position on the bill and played a very competent yet not too overly excited set to the departing audience.
Congratulations Klaus, we look forward to seeing more of you in the future.
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