Newblood 22nd Nov 07

10:12am Wednesday 9th January 2008

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Even though the lineup for this gig was only confirmed at the last minute, it did not prevent the NewBlood gig from being of low standard. In terms of acts, the NewBlood crew once again organised another sound evening. Only three bands were on show tonight; Dial 9 for Juice, The Felons and Figure 5.

Dial 9 for Juice proved to be a strong opening band, possibly riding on the success of qualifying for the QE Battle of the Bands final only the night before. It was cool to see a mixed sex lineup and the combination of male and female vocals gave their performance an interesting sound, although I personally felt at times the vocals were a bit weak to the detriment of the rest of the performances.

The Felons proved to be the heroes of the night, stepping in to perform at the very last minute and going straight from practice to stage. The Darlington indie band has an awesome sound, nicely complimented by David Saunders vocals. In my personal opinion they had some high quality tracks, which any other person could presume to be professional. On the night they were consistently super in performance terms, although Dave appeared to be slightly intoxicated but his exuberant antics definitely added to the quality of the gig. The audience definitely loved this band and responded well to a varied and original set list.

Last up on the stage was Figure 5, all the way from Glasgow. What seemed like a pretty straightforward band was actually pretty impressive. Sounding enticingly similar to the Kaiser Chiefs at some points, they took the gig goers through a mixed set of excellent numbers. The well-structured and balanced songs induced a bouncing audience at many points from the crowd and a definite energy could be taken from the performance. What impressed me was the enthusiasm and ability of the bands drummer Brian, who despite having no lower arms, drummed with as much vigour and skill as I have seen in a long while. The band did not give as much to the audience in between songs as they did during them but I think this hardly matters when the set finishes and you know you have seen something special.

Jamie Rutherford