Last Saturday @ The Blue Bear, Nuneaton

What a great night of live music that was!

Two bands I haven't seen before - Idle Playthings and Electric Slim. Turns out Idle Playthings were the guys from the old Scarlet Phere, so it was really good to catch up with them (and really nice to see Dan Gage - God himself - in the audience).

Idle Playthings were a real refreshing treat - tight, technical, proggy, funky, experimental, dancey rock, the kind of thing it's hard to quite put your finger on. But who cares what you'd call it - "Damn good sh*t" will do! It was quite a departure from anything I would have expected from those guys - lots of strange time signatures and changes, which if not done right can sound proper naff. Fortunately, these guys did it spot on - just enough to keep the whole thing accessible and interesting and combined with the funky grooves and well written melodies, the overall effect was something quite breathtaking.

Put it this way, it was enough to get Electric Slim's Bass player shitting himself and heading for the door! They were going to have to follow THAT!? Quite a tall order for these fresh faced youngsters. But step up they did, and provided us all with a performance that delighted everyone. Very different from Idle Playthings yet somehow the two complimented each other amazingly well. Again, melodic and funky, with a youthful rawness we all remember from our own early days. But this rawness sits well with their style and the whole thing can only get better as they develop. Visually, a very pleasing experience - Electric Slim have something very natural about them and I like it.... a lot!

A very, very good night for music down at the Blue Bear this was and if you haven't been there yet, check it out - Saturday nights has a great atmosphere as anyone who has played there will tell you - a very promising little venue with a great vibe. Oh, AND the beer's cheap!

Why not check it out THIS Saturday 6th March w/ Reubens Cane and Friends. Great review by the way, always nice to read someone having such a great night and enjoying the show as much as they did. Top stuff.

Thanks alot for your kind words John! Also thanks again for coming and doing the sound, and just helping us out in general, your a true gent.

Completley agree.. Idle Playthings are the best band i've played with so far, really enjoyable.

Nice atmosphere at the venue too, dont be put off by it. We got a real good sound there too with the help of John which is great as we all know how bad some venues can be.

Great night because of all who were involved!

Do they have no sound guy or something? we wernt told we need to bring a sound engineer?.

No. I provide the PA for them each Saturday, but I usually stick around and make a night out of it.

Sound-wise it's a real piss easy place to do - nice acoustically. You only need a vocal PA. A real pleasure to do.

So, I shall be there for you lot - really glad you got a drummer sorted and you're back gigging.

Reubens Cane were one of my first recommendations to the Blue Bear and I reckon you'll go down a storm

Cheers for putting that John was worried then really didn't know who we were gonna get to do it, glad were gigging again too been a struggle to get the dates we have sorted locked down but i think all the lads are enjoying being busy again. Cheers for dropping our name to them, really appreciate that you did that, think it's gonna be a pretty damn good gig.

Cheers guys for the great comments. We were really chuffed with how it went. I was surprised by how good it sounded both on and off stage in the Blue Bear. I also thought the reaction both bands got from the crowd was brilliant, They were suprisingly receptive.

Thanks to John for making us sound good and a massive thanks to the Electric Slim guys for letting us use their equipment (bass amp sounded sweet) and asking us to support in the first place.

Idle Playthings are playing upstairs at the Crew this Friday if anyone fancies checking us out.

Nuneaton muso's need to spread the word around and support it - proper cool little venue.

I'm looking forward to Saturday - the boss down there heard some of your stuff and she loved it, so it looks like.........

"she's got stardust in her eyes"

Idle Dan L wrote:Cheers guys for the great comments. We were really chuffed with how it went. I was surprised by how good it sounded both on and off stage in the Blue Bear. I also thought the reaction both bands got from the crowd was brilliant, They were suprisingly receptive.

Thanks to John for making us sound good and a massive thanks to the Electric Slim guys for letting us use their equipment (bass amp sounded sweet) and asking us to support in the first place.

Idle Playthings are playing upstairs at the Crew this Friday if anyone fancies checking us out.

I'd come down, but we've got a gig ourselves that night. I'll come down to your Rosies one though. Glad we've got another gig with you guys.

Sound Foundry wrote:so it looks like.........

"she's got stardust in her eyes"

The years have not been kind to the sharpness of your wit old friend!

Thank you..... you say the nicest things