Gig Review

Ocean Colour Scene
The Moons
Bournemouth, Academy
3rd February 2010
       
My second visit to Bournemouth's newest gig venue, the O2 Academy. And what a great venue it is. We arrived just in time to grab a pint as The Moons made their way on stage. I'm struggling to place The Moons in a clear genre. There was something a bit Ocean Colour Scene about them, some Foo Fighters lurked in the choruses, a dash of folk and then a bit of general indie. Opening with “Chinese Whispers,” they put on a pretty good show. Another highlight of the set was “Let It Go,” a particularly catchy track. There were five of them, one of whom seemed to spend most of his time with a tambourine. Someone always draws the short straw hey? It was upbeat and rhythmic, but the crowd didn't really seem to be getting very into it. I suppose it's hard, when you haven't heard anything by the artist before, and they did get a big applause at the end. They were the only support for the tonight, and a fine choice of act, complimented by the set of Ocean Colour Scene that was to follow.

The crowd was buzzing by the time the room fell into darkness and Ocean Colour Scene rolled out on stage. With twenty years experience in their back pocket, this was sure to be an exciting display of musical ability. Opening with “Mrs Maylie” from the new album “Saturday,” the venue came to life, with hands in the air all across the room, and the sound was spot on. You could hear everything that was going on up on stage, and
all of it was just, note perfect. This rolled into “Policemen and Pirates” and “The Circle,” one of my personal favourites from the golden years. The term 'golden years' is of course used lightly, front man Simon Fowler in an interview before the show said he thought they were at the top of their game at the moment. There were to be seven tracks from the new album played tonight, and the second came in the form of “Magic Carpet Days” featuring a guest female vocalist. I say vocalist, she did a bit of “la la” and that was it. Other tracks from the latest release include the title track “Saturday,” “Rockfield,” “Just A Little < Bit Of Love,” “Sing Children Sing,” and “Old Pair Of Jeans”; the lead of which is sung by second guitarist – and hey he's got a pretty good voice. It seems they all do. And they can all play one another's instruments, so to speak. I saw the bassist on drums, the drummer on piano, the second guitarist on bass, the lead guitarist on piano, it was like musical chairs. Other favourites to make their way into the set list before the encore (which was obviously going to be epic,) were “Traveller's Tune,” “One For The Road” and the fantastic “Hundred Mile City,” to name but a few.

And so the main set was over, a fabulous display of their abilities and performance skill. Everything really was spot on, they all looked so comfortable, really something to witness live. Practice makes perfect. Everyone in the room had guessed what would crop up in the encore, and we were buzzing. Firstly, “Riverboat Song,” that had the entire room singing along and boogying uncontrollably; what a riff. What a riff indeed. And then, came one strum from Fowler's acoustic guitar. Most of the room susses the significance of this strum and the cheering arose, and we were into “The Day We Caught The Train” to close the set. Deafening “oh la la” from every direction, this was the perfect end to a really inspiring set. Yes.

The Moons 3.5/5
Ocean Colour Scene - 5/5

Review By Thom Curtis

 Ocean Colour Scene


Simon Fowler
Steve Cradock
Oscar Harrison
Dan Sealey
Andy Bennett

 Thursday


Andy Crofts (Vocals, guitar)
Chris Ketley (Guitar, vocals)
Ben Gordelier (Drums)
Adam Leeds (Bass)
James Bagshaw (Keys, vocals)

 Band Related Links
Ocean Colour Scene Myspace
The Moons Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?