Funk to funky

Inspiration: Something for Kate

Created: Mon 6 Oct 2003 15:58

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Hooray for free tickets to shows. Something for Kate sell out the Forum now, but I gotta say, it didn't seem very packed. They were ably supported by Further, who are a damn sight heavier than anyone I thought SFK would pick to be their support, and Gelbison, about whom I will just say that the drummer is married to Toni Collette, mainly because I'm sure that's the last thing they would want me to say about them.

Things have certainly gotten slick with Something for Kate tours nowadays. They had 8 people on stage at one point, but hovered around 5 or 7 for most of the songs. Plus, they had moving images on a huge screen behind them for specific songs, like the top portion of a clock complete with moving hands for The Last Minute. Professional. I was really disappointed by the sound though. As it wasn't really packed, I kept on moving around to try and find a spot where I could both see, and where the sound mix would be just right, but it wasn't possible. If I went too close, the whole thing sounded too distorted to be enjoyable, and if I moved even a little bit further back, it was too quiet, and all I could hear were the people around me talking. I haven't had that happen at the Forum before, so I don't know what the story was.

Audience stereotype spotted: the headbanger. This would have to be the funniest audience member I've seen in a long time. A headbanger is always funny, but a girl headbanger who also specialises in flailing her arms above her head and just generally moving about wildly is priceless. I think she had totally forgotten that she was in public, so transfixed by the band was she, and more than one person had to move away from her after they received a faceful of her hair on the upwards bang of her head.

It seems Paul is over his self-imposed ban on playing Strategy, as this particular tune has apparently been a regular of late. He does it acoustically, with just his guitar and a piano accordian for accompaniment. This was a highlight of the evening, and I'm always up for a cover, so I also greatly enjoyed their version of David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes.

For a band that has a sound so instantly recognisable, their newer stuff, and the dynamic in their live performance, is amazingly different from what it used to be. The thread that always has and always will connect one song to another is Paul's voice, but if you disregard that, you may not be able to pick that some of these songs are by the same band as some of the others. With the addition of the strings section, there is an inevitable shift in the sound, and everything is a lot more polished. I enjoyed the evening, but not as much as I would have enjoyed a Something for Kate gig a couple of years ago.

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