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Live Review
by SashaS
23-6-2003
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| Game On: The Warlocks, Electric Six... |
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Live: Game On
Millennium Dome, London
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Game On: Fun and music at the Dome
If chocolate is fattening, do SK8ers and BMXers consume it? There is no reason for rock lovers and Hip-Hop obsessives not to indulge in an oral gratification… (if that’s what this candy bar with peanuts can provide.) But, marketing throws all sorts of unlikely bedfellows: Kerrang! magazine are co-sponsors with Snickers for this two-day SK8, BMX, Rock’n’rap party. At the doomed palace of the Briton’s millennial celebrations.
The place is divided into several sections: ramps, gaming, music… There are also bars. So, the fun for all and sundry, one reckons: Soul Bowl, a purpose-built ramp for competitions, its purse amounting to 30 grand squid; then The Loopis, a 5m-high structure to date completed by only five skaters and not the one to recreate at home; ‘The Noise Pollution stage’, presented skateboarding’s more borderline musical choice (Young Heart Attack, Sugarcult, Sick Of It All) with ‘The Big K! Stage’ offering more general (and partly bewildering choice of bands) that included Biffy Clyro, The Mad Capsule Markets and Cypress Hill (on Saturday).
Today’s line-up is really a curio one: newcomers Violent Delight and The Androids precede the psyche-spacey-sepulchral The Warlocks, the rock-comedians Electric Six, the failed stadium rocker Reef, sugar-coated angry pop-punkette Kelly Osbourne and the fine rocking of InMe, a Brit-band that is so unjustly overlooked. The Warlocks provide the first excitement of the day with their strange brew of styles where psychedelia meets post-modern rock before taking off for the outer (mental) rim.
The La-la-land band of six – three guitars plus a bass, two drummers – can kick enough fuss but they still employ a female keyboard player to enrich the material from their ‘Phoenix’ album. This septet is a bit enigmatic, a bit retro, with a lot of thoughtful passages that take you places further from the mainstream bull. ‘Shake The Dope Out’ (the current single), ‘The Dope Feels Good’ and, in particular, ‘Oh Shadie’ are just gems!
Electric Six, their debut album ‘Fire’ finally being released a week today, have recently changed half of their personnel but you wouldn’t know it. As long as Dick Valentine is there, the disco-beats will be mixed with wacky riffs and headbanging pretence while actually being a feelgood-inducing music. Naturally, not knowing the album cuts, keep the atmo respectful-but-distant, until ‘Danger! High Voltage’ and, few tracks later, ‘Gay Bar’. They end with the version of ‘Radio Ga-Ga’ (Queen) and the sizeable crowd sings along at the top of their voices! El. 6, still the randy jammers!
This colossal folly structure will have a problem, if predicted turning into a regular venue are to become reality, to attract regular concert going public. It’s too way out of anywhere! But, at the same time it appeared to be able to accommodate plethora of activities, including ‘Body Art’.
There were also Punk Rock Aerobics classes (kid you not!) that rounded up the options at the “biggest party of its kinds in Europe”. Can’t think of a better way to spend Sunday afternoon, raining or otherwise, unless Formula One racing were on!
SashaS
23-6-2003
Electric Six’s CD ‘Fire’ is released 30 June 2003 on XL Recordings
The Warlocks’ album ‘Phoenix’ is available now on Birdman/City Rockers
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