The Old Blue Last in London is a fabulous place to go and see bands. Granted, a bottle of beer will cost just shy of £5, but that’s the price you pay for rocking up in Shoreditch.
Inside, a warm bar and staff greet you in from the cold, and a tidy, open space in an old building gives a fleeting community feel. Tonight, the Old Blue is being graced by three exponents of the mentally astute musical field, with barely a 4/4 in sight.
Ascending the narrow stairs to the live portion of the venue, I see two drumkits set up side by side, with racks of organs and keys facing each other. Openers AKDK sit down at the respective kits, sporting inverted outfits, G in black/white, Ed in white/black. The bleeping, almost dub siren vocals shimmer and weave for a moment before both men burst into life, thrashing the drums in double-tracked majesty. The capacity crowd are digging it, the duos’ floor based setup lending a visceral intimacy to proceedings. “We’re going to a Pink Floyd medley-don’t worry, it’s not The Wall“, proclaims G as they mash up One Of These Days and Set The Controls For The Heart OF The Sun. The closing applause tells them they’ve done themselves proud. Nice one.
With the show running a bit behind, Suffer Like G Did take the stage significantly later than advertised, and curtail their set to 20 minutes. The vocalless quartet judder and strike with astonishing precision, the band changing direction like migrating birds. With almost no crowd interaction at all, they elect to play some truly challenging, but highly listenable, progressive music. An excellent bridge between AKDK and tonight’s headliners, their all too brief and faultless set was spellbinding.
Standing near the front for The Physics House Band, it doesn’t become apparent until a couple of songs in just how rammed it is in here. Playing their Horizons/Rapture EP in it’s entirety, the wordless trio play at an almost impossible intensity. So ferocious is it, that when they pause briefly to introduce Teratology, I start to laugh uncontrollably. Borderline madness, kept in check by only the band’s collective will, leaves many in the expectant crowd awestruck, mouths agape. The relentless, wildly complex drumming is exacerbated by some of the most remarkable, naturally savage bass work I’ve ever encountered. As the guitar and organ ramp up the ante for the controlled explosion of Titan, the air in the room is a palpable, electric fog, and the band stop so suddenly that the crowd jolt as one.
All three acts were almost comically superb, and if you weren’t present for this free gig(all the gigs at Old Blue seem to be free), you need to strongly examine your priorities. Magnificent.
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