Review of: The Chap live at the Cube, Bristol, 2 November 2007

5/5 (minimum 1)

by martinp on 04 Nov 2007

What do you want from a rock music gig? If you're like me, you want songs that start off with catchy and original tunes, that build up into a howl of distortion. You want a drummer who pounds like an animal, but knows more rhythms than just thud-thud. You want guitars, violin and cello to be played well, but occasionally the WRONG WAY. You want lyrics that are a bit eccentric: simple and direct to the point of being chant-like, but unexpected. You want to be able to dance to it all. If somehow it makes you laugh, that's a bonus.

For this opening of their UK/France tour, the odds were against The Chap. The Cube, being a seated venue, wasn't ideal for such a danceable band. Some very popular gigs were happening elsewhere the same evening, which meant a relatively small audience for this gig.

So for atmosphere, it was not the greatest gig, but in terms of the performance these North Londoners gave, it was everything from my wishlist, and that's even given the absence of arguably their two best songs "Arts Centre" and "Baby I'm Hurtin'". They showed off some new songs which will be released early in 2008, and which had all the best musical and lyrical appeal of their other songs.

I don't recommend the band's "Live at Barfly" album, which excludes all their best songs. There are YouTube videos which give a flavour of their show, but nothing beats seeing The Chap live.

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The Chap live at the Cube, Bristol, 2 November 2007

Tags: disco electro live-music lo-fi performance punk rock
Homepage: http://www.thechap.org/live.html