Silverspark,The Shapes, Torn Like Colours, Jericho Tavern, Friday, January 16th






After around ten years, due to being unable to come back the same night, I went back to Oxford for a night out.  Chris Oakes, who has been organising gigs in and around the Oxfordshire area for about 2 years, took his Strummer Room Project to Oxford, and held his first band night at the Jericho Tavern.

I had never been there before, very nice venue. Its looks like a polish restraunt from the outside looking in. I like the way the place is laid out. The band area is upstairs so we got a beer and went through the maze of staircases





Silverspark


Matt and Carley have been performing Acoustic sessions around the counties through the Winter months. This was there last one I believe before the full band starts up again. Carley, has a great range, can hold note like no one else and has real vocal power.
Matt on guitar and Matt Hewitson on the Cajon and guitar. First time in two year I have seen these guys do an Acoustic set. The last time, is when they were a duo.
Great performance by the band, dispite, Carley having microphone feedback and Matt, having a blonde moment.
They set was a Acoustic translations of songs from their, Flames Run Deep, album, a cover and a new song, always great to hear. My favourite was Smoking Gun, which translates very well in Acoustic form. Dangerous Game is also good and they did, Something About Your, which is a staple song of Silverspark sets

The Shapes


Different venue, gained fans. This was a fantastic performance by, The Shapes. The main difference here is three guys on vocal duties, no female on stage on the night
I have been wanting to see,The shapes in a different venue and they were brilliant.  The set was some of their new material from their new ep, Its Bigger than Everybody and older music, including,The Facebook song and Little girl, which went down well. My favourite of the night was, Mr Sandman. Just sounds amazing live, like a musicial for the, 40s, Going to see them again


Torn Like Colours
Headliners ( Replaced Facture)


Never seen these guys before, well and gals.
With the net, you can hear what a band sounds like before you see live. Torn Like Colours are a live band
I had a fair idea of what they were going to do with a mixture of  original material and their "Mashups"
Besides the drummer giving them a false start " I am not ready" Leanne can seriously blast it out of the P.A. She has great range. I was impressed with the  whole band and how they perform together. Great original material which is more dynamic live.  The other part of their set is the " Mashups" This is taking a one or two riffs one two songs and lyrics from another, or just mashing two songs together. This is brilliantly done. My favourite is "Rolling like the Tiger"  ( I Think), with the rolling beat of Survivors, Eye of the Tiger, with Lyrics from another song..  The only let down, was the lead problem, but that was only momantary and Leanne singing in the wrong key on one song, Matilda. The even got an encore :)


Great to go out on a Friday night, to somewhere more accessable and come back the same night. Oxford has a late train, late enough to walk back and catch the train home.  Chris has got something good going here. There are more gigs at the Tavern over the coming months. Good exposure for upcoming acts. If you do not know who any of them are, look them on the net, checkout the sounds and then see the live experience
Its good to see live acts more often. Its fine going to Birmingham and ok every so often to stay overnight, but can't do that all the time. At least with Oxford, have a few hours, watching great bands
All information
Strummer Room Project website

Silverspark              The Shapes        Torn Like Colours

My thanks for reading
Paul Readman
Radio presenter, broadcaster, video editor/ producer
Radio Variety Show site





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The History of Record Shops

The Projectiles ( Official Blog)