Friday saw another visit to Massive Attack’s Meltdown, this time to see Tom Tom Club and the Gang of Four at the Royal Festival Hall.
Tom Tom Club were on top form, performing their big hit, ‘Wordy Rappinghood’ and also in their set was a version of Hot Chocolate’s ‘Sexy Thing’. They were very energetic on stage, and their keyboard player also had some mean tom-tom playing skills. There was even a guy at the back ‘scratching’ on some DJ decks – talk about nostalgia!
Next up were the Gang of Four - a post-punk band from the early 80s who aren’t particularly well known but they have a great stripped-down sound. If you can imagine a musical spectrum, they’re somewhere on a line between Talking Heads, Joy Division and Blancmange sound-wise. The highlight of the set involved the lead singer, Jon King, making a rhythm by smashing a microwave oven on-stage… ?
It was a strange evening all told – we wandered outside to see the mesmerising ‘Volume’ art installation by United Visual Artists, and suddenly came across Annie Mole, Lisa (Brian the Pigeon‘s agent) and some friends who had been to a gig at one of the other venues taking part in the festival. Talk about a small world!
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| From Royal Festiva… |
About Pete Stean
